Boats at Collioure 1905

Andre Derain painted ‘Boats at Collioure’ with oil on canvas, and it feels like he really built it up, dab by dab. The painting shimmers with blues and yellows, laid down in these tiny, mosaic-like touches. I wonder what it was like to stand where Derain stood, squinting in that bright Mediterranean light. The way he's built up the surface, each stroke feels like a separate thought, a decision, a tiny discovery. It's like he’s trying to catch something elusive, something beyond the boats and the water, maybe the very feeling of being there. Look at the way the yellow of the sand creeps into the blue of the sea – it’s like he’s dissolving the boundaries, making it all one big, vibrant field of sensation. You can see the influence of the pointillists, but Derain takes it somewhere else, somewhere wilder and more intuitive. Painters are always talking to each other, across time, across styles, and this painting feels like a lively part of that conversation, don't you think?