Le Pin Bertaud 1909

This landscape, made with ink wash on paper by Paul Signac, is kind of like a moody memory. The marks are really gestural, not exactly precise, but they give you a good idea of the scene. The colors are really muted, almost monochromatic, which adds to that sense of a faded memory. You can almost feel Signac trying to capture the essence of the place, the feeling of being there rather than just a literal depiction. I can imagine Signac standing in front of this tree, squinting, trying to decide what to leave in and what to leave out. What did he want to remember? It's funny how a few well-placed blobs can give you the feeling of a whole tree, or the weight of an afternoon. I think a painting like this is about communicating what it feels like to be in a place, not just what it looks like. It reminds me a little bit of Van Gogh's drawings, with that same kind of intensity. All these artists are always teaching each other, even across time!