Garverierne i Falaise, Normandiet 1901 - 1904

Othon Friesz made this monochromatic landscape of Normandy with broad, confident strokes. Imagine him there, on location, squinting, translating a three-dimensional world onto a two-dimensional surface with confident, sweeping gestures. I think he was probably thinking about Cézanne. The simplified forms, the way the buildings stack up, there's definitely something Cezanne-like going on. But there’s also something that is more immediate, loose and expressive. The paint is thin, almost like a wash, which creates a sense of movement and atmosphere. Look how those vertical strokes cascade from the rooftops, suggesting rain or maybe just the dampness in the air. What is so cool about painting, right, is that artists look at each other’s work and keep the conversation going across time, each adding their own perspective to the language of painting. With every stroke, Friesz isn't just depicting a scene, he's also making an argument about how we see, how we feel, and how we connect to the world around us.