Le voyageur 1980

Marc Chagall made "Le voyageur" with paint, and look at how he lets the colour run free! The colours here are amazing, aren't they? The paint looks thin and washy, like watercolour almost, but it's oil, right? So, it’s like he's staining the canvas, which gives everything this dreamy, floaty quality. He's not trying to hide how he made it. You can see every stroke, every decision. It’s like he’s inviting us into his process, into his memories, into his mind. Look closely at the way he paints the village in the background: each house is outlined loosely, melting into the next, not quite in focus. There is a painter called Florine Stettheimer, who uses a similar palette, and she could almost be a long-lost cousin here. Ultimately art is not about answers but about the questions, and maybe even more about the looking.