Village with Figures 1931

Grégoire Michonze made this Village with Figures, and there’s something so direct and confident about the way he used his paint. Look at how deliberately he’s described the scene, kind of like how you might explain it to someone. The texture’s not overworked, it’s honest. I think it's interesting how the artist builds up the scene, there are so many figures to look at, and they seem to stand in front of the landscape rather than within it. I love the way he’s handled the dogs. The one with the speckled pattern is so full of movement, and it feels like a microcosm of the whole painting. The energy of that single brushstroke really animates the space around it. Michonze reminds me of artists like Alfred Wallis, who were also concerned with representing their immediate surroundings, turning the everyday into something extraordinary. And as with all great paintings, this piece is not so much about what you see, but how it makes you feel.