Before the Repast at Emmaus c. 1910

Jean-Louis Forain made this moody scene on paper with brushes and diluted brown paint, almost like ink. You can imagine him in the studio, shifting the composition, correcting it, finding the line. I can imagine him stepping back to consider it, maybe with a cigarette in his mouth, and then moving forward again to apply a new wash. The paint is really liquid and thin, not too cloying or thick, and the strokes are quick and definite. Look at the one standing figure – he's just wiping the table with a cloth, so matter of fact, and yet Forain has imbued the whole scene with a real solemnity. This reminds me of Daumier's paintings, full of ordinary people in quiet, interior spaces. The humanity is so moving. It's the kind of painting that makes you realize art doesn’t have to be about perfection or beauty; it can just be about capturing a moment, a feeling, a shared humanity.