Sand Castle 1909

Maurice Denis made this small painting, called "Sand Castle", with oil on cardboard. I can imagine him starting with a light wash of blues and yellows, capturing the airy lightness of the beach, and then he must have come back in with these thick, juicy strokes of red, and white to delineate the figures. I'm picturing Denis, palette in hand, squinting at the bright sunlight, trying to capture the fleeting moment of children playing by the sea. It's like he's thinking, "How do I make paint stand for sunlight, for water, for the sheer joy of being alive?" And then he just goes for it, smearing and daubing, trusting his instincts. Look at how those stripes on the bathing suits are rendered with such quick, confident strokes, each one a little different, a little off-kilter. It reminds me that painting is not about perfection, it's about embracing the messiness of life, the way things shift and change and never quite line up the way we expect them to. Just like sandcastles, paintings are made with simple materials, but their construction is an act of pure freedom.