Port of Saint-Tropez, Evening Effect 1909

Francis Picabia conjured this 'Port of Saint-Tropez, Evening Effect' with oils, sometime around 1909. Imagine him there, grappling with that Mediterranean light, squeezing out dollops of colour directly onto the canvas - a dance of intuition and observation! The buildings on the right blaze with ochre and umber, each stroke alive. Those purplish shadows, they’re not literal, but they pulse with feeling. I wonder if he felt like he was wrestling with something? Did he throw down some marks, scrape them back, only to build them up again? Look at how those boats are just gestured in; they appear almost as an afterthought. Painters are magpies, you know, stealing from each other across time. I imagine him looking at some impressionist’s light or Fauvist’s daring colours. I think we are all in a constant dialogue, adding our own two cents to something much bigger than ourselves. Painting is a conversation where ambiguity is part of the language.