Procession 1913

This painting, "Procession," by Charles Cottet, seems to have emerged stroke by stroke. The artist must have had to mix the hues of the muted palette to get just the right sense of earthy gravity. I wonder, did he sketch each figure individually or did he begin with the rhythm of the crowd and build the figures up from that? The heads of the women are bent low, each face is blurred. It makes me think of how when you paint, you are wrestling with your own doubt and working through something. There’s a tension between the rough brushwork and the delicate subject matter; it’s like Cottet is making something beautiful and challenging the viewer to recognize it. The materiality of the paint gives the work a tactile quality, and the painting becomes an object, not just a representation. All painters are always in conversation, building upon what came before, adding their own mark. Ultimately, painting is a way of thinking. It’s a dance between intention and chance, where meaning is always fluid and open to interpretation.