Beach Scene, St. Malo 1907

Maurice Prendergast made this painting, Beach Scene, St. Malo, with oil on panel, and you can almost feel the hand of the artist playing across the surface. Prendergast wasn’t afraid to leave his mark, and it’s this immediacy that gives the work its charm, like a snapshot of a fleeting moment. Looking closer, the painting is all about texture and color. The paint is applied in these thick, juicy strokes, creating a tactile surface that practically begs to be touched. Take the umbrellas, for example, they’re not just shapes, but blobs of color, each dab and stroke alive with energy. It’s like Prendergast is saying, "Here's a beach, but it's also a painting.” Prendergast reminds me a bit of Bonnard, always chasing after that feeling of being alive in the world, the sensation of light and color, which for me, is what painting is all about. It’s this embrace of ambiguity that makes the painting sing, inviting us to get lost in the act of seeing.