Landscape at Caux with increasing clouds 1917

Ferdinand Hodler made this painting of a landscape with increasing clouds with oil on canvas. Look at those brushstrokes! You can almost feel the artist standing there, trying to capture the fleeting moment when the clouds shift and change. It's like he's wrestling with the sky, trying to pin down its essence with every dab and swirl of paint. I can imagine Hodler squinting, mixing his colours, and stepping back to assess his progress. What was he thinking when he made those worm-like clouds? Maybe he was thinking of a turbulent inner emotional landscape? The paint is applied so thickly, it almost feels like you could reach out and touch the sky. This reminds me of other artists I admire who grapple with the sublime in nature, like Turner or maybe Agnes Martin with her subtle colour gradients. Painting is this ongoing conversation, you know? Each artist riffing off the others, adding their own voice to the chorus. It's all about embracing the messy, uncertain nature of expression.