Cagnes, Landscape in Stormy Weather 1917

Henri Matisse made this painting of Cagnes in stormy weather with loose brushstrokes and a wild palette that makes me think of his Fauvist period. I can imagine him outside, wrestling with the wind as he tries to capture the scene before him. The grey clouds heavy with rain, painted with choppy strokes, seem to bear down on the landscape, threatening to burst open at any moment. He’s caught the Mediterranean lurking on the horizon, and rendered the rolling hills, painted in browns and yellows, with a kind of restless energy. It's like he's pushing the paint around, trying to find the right balance between observation and expression. The greens in the foreground pop against the muted tones of the sky and hills. Matisse is a touchstone, one of those painters who showed us how color could be a form of liberation. I reckon he learned so much from other painters, too, each of us always in conversation with those who came before.