Interior 1914

Othon Friesz made this painting, Interior, with oils, and you can almost feel him pushing the paint around, coaxing it to evoke this slightly tilted domestic space. The dominant hues of ochre and muted greens create a warm, enveloping atmosphere. Imagine Friesz standing before the canvas, brush in hand, deciding where to lay down the next stroke. Did he squint to blur the edges of the objects, focusing on the essential forms? Look at how he rendered the round table and the armchair, each a swirl of colour and texture. I bet he was thinking about Cezanne. The curtains, rendered in thick impasto, are just beautiful. That dash of blue for the woman's robe; it's like a jolt of energy. And is that a painting on the wall behind her, or a figure lurking in the shadows? Friesz leaves it ambiguous, inviting us to fill in the blanks, to have our own conversation with the painting. That’s what painting is all about, after all: a kind of embodied expression that embraces ambiguity and allows for multiple interpretations.