Paysage 1914

Albert Gleizes made this painting, called ‘Paysage,’ with oils, probably sometime in the early 20th century. The palette is muted, lots of ochre, browns, greys and off whites, with tiny hits of sky blue and terracotta. I wonder what it was like to be Gleizes, wrestling with form like that, breaking everything down into planes and angles. Did he want to show us a new way of seeing? I bet he did! He takes the landscape and he fractures it, almost like he’s building it back up again. And that little red dot? It feels so out of place, so deliberate. Is it a formal device, or maybe a sign? I can only imagine. Painting is like a puzzle. We bring our own experiences to the table, to see what new forms emerge. It’s all just part of a larger, ongoing conversation.