The Stour at Stratford St Mary, Colchester 1934

Lucien Pissarro's "The Stour at Stratford St Mary" is a landscape painting, probably made outside, en plein air, with little touches of blue, red and green. I'm thinking about Lucien standing by the river, brush in hand, trying to capture the reflections of the buildings. Was he frustrated by the wind, as it stirred the surface of the river, distorting the image? Did he see a face in the water? I bet he made this painting in conversation with his father Camille Pissarro, and maybe even Monet, too. I wonder if Lucien was trying to capture a fleeting moment, or something more permanent and solid. You know, all these tiny strokes, they’re not just about depicting a place, but about time itself. Each dab of color must have been a decision, a micro-adjustment, to convey the shimmering effect of light on water. Artists are always riffing off one another. Painting’s an ongoing exchange, a dialogue across time. It embraces ambiguity, inviting many interpretations, rather than settling on one fixed idea.