La Boutique, Rang St. Laurent, Baie-Saint-Paul 1920

Clarence Gagnon painted this scene of a shop in rural Quebec with oil on canvas. I can just imagine Gagnon out there in the cold. He’s trying to get this exact shade of violet in the shadows of the snow. There’s something so alive in the way he captured this little building. The bold blues and yellows. It makes you think of Van Gogh. He layers the paint in a way that gives the whole scene a palpable, thick texture. You can feel the chill in the air. Look how the light hits the mountains in the background. That pink is such a simple dab of paint, but it brings warmth to the whole composition. I bet he was racing against the sunset, trying to capture the light before it disappeared. It reminds me of those plein air painters, always chasing the light, trying to get that fleeting moment onto the canvas. Painting is like that, isn't it? A conversation across time.