The Pool of London 1906

Andre Derain made The Pool of London with oil paint probably sometime in the early 1900s. It’s got these cool, confident strokes of bright reds, blues, and greens. I can almost feel Derain standing there, really looking, then smacking the paint on, trying to capture the feel of the water and the boats. I wonder what he was thinking about as he made this? I mean, look at how thick some of that paint is – especially those dabs of blue and white on the boats – he's really going for it, right? It's like he's wrestling with the scene, trying to get it just so, but also letting the paint do its own thing. There’s something about the way Derain lays down the color that reminds me of Van Gogh, that intensity. It’s like he’s saying, "This is how I see it, take it or leave it." And you know, that’s what painting is all about – one artist seeing something and then showing it to the rest of us in their own weird, beautiful way.