A boat 1901

Odilon Redon made this painting of a boat with oil, we don’t know exactly when. Look closely, and you see it’s really about the buttery, chalky paint itself. There's this kind of dreamy, atmospheric haziness that comes from how Redon laid down the color, almost like he's rubbing it into the canvas. The texture is so rich, with these thick impasto areas that give the whole thing a tactile quality. The browns and yellows create a warm, melancholic mood. Check out the way the light seems to radiate from the center, casting shadows and creating a sense of depth. See how the brushstrokes around the boat are loose and gestural, giving a sense of movement and energy? It’s like the whole scene is alive and breathing. Redon, who was a contemporary of the Impressionists, had a huge influence on later artists, including painters like Philip Guston, who used a similarly pared back pallete. All artists speak to each other, down the years, this is a conversation. There’s an embrace of ambiguity here that I love, isn’t there?