Gale at Etretat 1920

Henri Matisse painted 'Gale at Etretat' with oil on canvas, and what grabs me right away is the bold and free handling of the paint. It’s not about precise details here; it’s about capturing the energy of the scene, that breezy and dynamic atmosphere. Look closely, and you'll see how the brushstrokes build up a sense of texture, especially in the waves crashing on the shore. The paint is applied with such confidence, almost like he's wrestling with the elements himself. The colors are vibrant, but there’s also a kind of rawness to them – a sense of the real, unvarnished world. The way Matisse renders the cliff face with a mix of warm and cool tones is just fantastic; it gives it weight and solidity, but also a kind of shimmering, atmospheric quality. You can almost feel the wind and the spray of the sea. Think of someone like Courbet, another painter drawn to the power of the sea. Both artists remind us that art is as much about feeling as it is about seeing.