The Pont Saint-Michel and Notre Dame 1905

Albert Marquet created this scene of the Pont Saint-Michel and Notre Dame with oil on canvas. It's all about how the light hits the water, am I right? The way Marquet handles paint here is so straightforward. He's not trying to trick you. It's like, here’s the Seine, here’s a bridge, here's the cathedral in the background, all rendered in these muted blues, greys and browns. Look at the reflections of the figures in the wet street. It feels like he's after something real, a certain kind of everyday poetry. I'm thinking about how different artists like Bonnard, who painted intimate domestic scenes, or even someone like Giorgio Morandi, who spent his life painting bottles, were also finding the extraordinary in the ordinary. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? What is it about these simple scenes that keeps us coming back?