A Cove at Sevignies 1906

Gustave Loiseau painted A Cove at Sevignies with oil on canvas, and what I notice right away is how he used color to build form. Rather than lines, it’s these dabs and strokes of paint – blues, greens, browns – that define the cliffs and the sea. It's a process that feels both deliberate and wonderfully intuitive. Look at the way Loiseau layers the paint, creating a tangible sense of texture. You can almost feel the roughness of the rocks, the cool spray of the water. Notice how the brushstrokes become more frenzied and layered as we move closer to the cliff edge, but more regular as we look out over the sea, with the light bouncing off the water. It is a constant building process, like putting together a puzzle with paint. I’m reminded of Monet, with his focus on capturing fleeting moments of light and atmosphere, but there’s also something distinctly Loiseau’s own in this embrace of the materiality of paint. Art isn’t about answers, but about keeping the conversation alive, mark by mark.