Sous Le Grand Marronier De Marquayrol 1915

Henri Martin made this painting of a table and chairs under a chestnut tree with oil on canvas, and the surface looks like a pointillist mosaic, or like a slightly blurry Seurat. The mark making is so consistent that everything dematerializes into this vibrating, almost hallucinatory space. The light feels somehow both warm and cool, like a summer day seen through tired eyes. I love how he's used these tiny touches of colour to build up the forms, especially the way the light catches on the backs of the chairs. You can almost feel the air moving, shimmering. Looking at the marks that make up the shadows under the table, I wonder how much of this was painted on site, and how much from memory. The colour palette is not dissimilar to Monet, but something about the composition reminds me of Vuillard, a more domestic space, or even Bonnard. Painting is just people talking to each other, and Martin is joining in the conversation.