Village on the hill 

Gustave Loiseau made this painting, Village on the Hill, using oil paint on canvas. The visible brushstrokes are a crucial part of the experience of the painting. The surface is built up of small touches of pigment, each one registering a moment of the artist’s attention. This method, characteristic of Impressionism, allowed painters like Loiseau to capture fleeting atmospheric effects. But it also speaks to a shift in the way art was made in the late 19th century. With the advent of pre-mixed paints in tubes, artists could more easily work en plein air - directly in the landscape. This contributed to a new sense of immediacy and spontaneity. We see a renewed focus on the artist's individual labor and sensory experience, rather than academic studio work. This painting, therefore, is not just a representation of a village, but also a record of the artist's encounter with it, and with the changing landscape of artistic production.