Village Market in Cardoso 1905

Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso made this Village Market painting with oil, likely on a small panel, probably en plein air. What grabs me first is the painting’s surface; it’s raw, exposed, like he couldn't wait to capture the moment. The brushstrokes are thick, almost sculptural, giving the scene a lively, bustling energy. I love how the colours aren’t blended so much as juxtaposed. Look at that roof, a bold stroke of blue sitting right next to the tan of the panel. It's this kind of immediate, intuitive mark making that really speaks to me. The brown of the panel peeps through, acting as a kind of unifying tone, a reminder of the material reality beneath the illusion. Notice the figure on the right, rendered in just a few dark strokes, yet full of presence. It’s like he’s saying so much with so little. This painting reminds me a little of the early Fauvist paintings of someone like Derain, who were similarly interested in simplified forms, and raw application of paint. It feels like part of an ongoing conversation about how we see, and how we translate that seeing onto canvas.