The Jetty 1906

Theo van Rysselberghe made this painting, The Jetty, with oil on panel. Look at all that choppy blue, and those little dabs of pink and lavender sky! It feels like the painting was built up, mark by mark, with tiny deliberate gestures. I can almost imagine van Rysselberghe standing there, squinting at the light on the water. He’s trying to catch that fleeting moment with a very specific method of painting. I bet he was super focused, working within the traditions of Neo-Impressionism and Pointilism, but still trying to capture something raw and real about the scene. There’s a whole history of artists doing this kind of work, thinking about color and light like Seurat and Signac and even, later, someone like Chuck Close. It’s like a constant conversation, each artist building on what came before. But in the end, painting is always so personal! It's about what *you* see and feel. And what you wanna add to the conversation!