Crescent Beach (also known as Crescent Beach, St. Malo) 1907

Maurice Prendergast made this oil painting, Crescent Beach, on a small canvas. His dabs of paint create a shimmering surface; it’s a mosaic of colour, capturing a fleeting moment. You can almost feel the sun on your skin. The beach is populated with abstracted figures, blobs and dashes of colour which create a sense of depth. The way Prendergast handles the medium is particularly interesting. It's not about hiding the process, but celebrating the materiality of paint. Look at how the brushstrokes are so visible, how the colours mix optically rather than on the palette. There is a red blob in the lower centre of the painting, like a red exclamation mark, or a full stop. It catches the eye, anchoring the composition. Prendergast reminds me of Bonnard, in the way he captures the feeling of a scene rather than a photographic likeness. Ultimately, art is about this conversation between artists, across time, as each of us offers our own perspectives on the world.