Nude Combing Her Hair 1903

Hippolyte Petitjean created this painting of a nude combing her hair with what looks like tiny, energetic dots of oil paint. I imagine him, patiently and methodically, building up the image with countless little dabs, one after another. The colors are so pretty! Pinks, blues, greens, all shimmering together. What I love is the feeling of light and air. You can almost feel the warmth on the woman's skin, the cool breeze coming off the water. She seems relaxed, like she has all the time in the world. It makes me think about other artists like Seurat and Signac, who were also experimenting with pointillism around the same time. They were all pushing the boundaries of what painting could be, exploring how color and light could create these amazing optical effects. It's all one big conversation across time, each painter adding their own little bit to the story.