Nu au bord de la mer 1909

This is "Nu au bord de la mer" by Henri Matisse, made with oil on canvas. It's all about the process; you can almost feel Matisse smearing the paint around, trying to capture that moment of standing by the sea. I love how he builds up the figure with these strokes of pink, peach, and white. It's not about perfection but about capturing the feeling of light on skin, the air, the water. The paint is thin, not trying to hide the canvas. In the lower part, the blue strokes give substance to the shadow. I see echoes of Cézanne in the way Matisse builds form with color, but with a lightness and fluidity that's all his own. Matisse is teaching us to see the world with fresh eyes, reminding us that art is more than just representation. It’s about feeling, about the joy of seeing and the magic of translating that onto canvas.