The Japanese Bridge 8 1924

Claude Monet made this painting of The Japanese Bridge with oil paint sometime during his career. Look at the marks in this piece, they are all about the process of applying the paint, and how that translates into an image. The texture in this piece is so juicy, you can practically feel the brushstrokes. Look at how Monet uses these strokes of vibrant reds, yellows, and greens, building up the forms of the plants. There's a spot near the bottom where the colors mix in a way that suggests movement and reflection, it's all surface. It reminds me of how Guston would build forms from simple marks, only here, it's about nature, not cartoons. Art is always a conversation, an exchange of ideas, and sometimes it's okay if those ideas are a little ambiguous.