Riding Children 1905

Karoly Ferenczy made this painting of children riding horses with oil on canvas, and I can imagine the summer heat and the feeling of being on horseback. The whole scene is made up of soft greens and browns, hazy light and blurred details. What must it have been like to build this up with layers of paint? There's a real push-pull between foreground and background, a bit like Impressionism, a bit like looking at a dream. Ferenczy is playing with your depth perception, letting it all collapse into one plane. I see it as Ferenczy trying to figure something out. Maybe he wants to be Degas, maybe Manet? He's got these dark outlines and blurred edges, a bit like how I sometimes paint when I'm trying to let the process take over. I think he’s in conversation with the French Impressionists, but still finding his own voice and way of seeing. Like a painter, he's trying to feel his way through, moment by moment.