Port De Cherbourg 1918

Henri Matisse made this painting, Port De Cherbourg, with oil paints. The way he’s swiped those greys and creams across the sky feels like he’s trying to catch a feeling more than a picture, you know? There's something about the surface of this painting that gets me. The paint is laid on pretty thick, you can almost feel the bristles of the brush, especially in those reflections on the water. Notice how he hasn’t blended things perfectly. It's like he’s saying, “Here’s the paint, here’s the mark, here’s the light, deal with it.” It reminds me of some of Courbet's seascapes, where the materiality of the paint becomes part of the subject. Matisse is having a conversation with painting itself, and he’s letting us listen in. It’s less about perfection and more about the joy of seeing what happens when color meets canvas.