Landscape, Sunset 1912

Pierre Bonnard painted this sunset landscape on canvas, and what grabs me is how he’s not just showing us a pretty view, but also how he sees the world. It's all about the paint, right? Look how he builds up the colors. The sunset isn't just yellow, it’s a whole bunch of yellows layered together. And the way he dabs and strokes the paint, you can almost feel the air and the light shifting. Then there are these two blocks of reddish paint, they frame everything like you are spying on a private scene. Check out the way he uses these little touches of bright color, like the white on the figure to the right, to make your eye jump around. It’s like he’s saying, hey, look at this, but don’t look too hard, because it’s all about the feeling, not the details. Bonnard's friend, Édouard Vuillard also loved to play with domestic interiors in a similar way. Both artists remind us that painting is as much about what we leave out as what we put in.