Country house 1910

Henri Martin made this painting, Country House, with oil paint. It looks like a landscape, but it's really a field of tiny, deliberate marks. Up close, each dab of color is its own thing, but from a distance, they all dance together, making you see the whole picture. What gets me is the texture – it's not smooth or blended. You can practically feel the brushstrokes, each one a little decision. Look at the way he builds up the colors in the foreground – like a mosaic of warm and cool, inviting you into the scene. Then there's that solid, dark shape of the house at the top, a stark contrast to all the movement below. There’s a touch of pointillism in this painting which makes me think of Seurat, but where Seurat’s work is all about color theory, this is more emotive. Martin’s not just showing us a place; he's sharing a feeling. That's what good art does: it opens up a space for feeling and thinking, all at once.