Oogstende figuren 1926

Jacques Villon made this work, "Oogstende figuren", with ink, conjuring a world through shifting tones of grey and black. I can almost see him, or anyone trying to catch the weight and movement of a crowd. Think of the brushstrokes, the dark washes pulled across the surface to build up forms. And there it is, right? A whole community rendered through dark ink, a few quick marks to capture each figure. There’s this beautiful tension between representation and abstraction – are they really harvesting, or is it more a feeling, a memory? The mountains in the background—those jagged peaks. Was Villon thinking about Cezanne? That sweeping gesture, that rhythmic pulse, that desire to capture a particular moment in time. It's like all painters are in conversation across time, translating each other, working through each other's ideas. Painting is an embodied expression and there are multiple meanings.