La diseuse de bonne aventure, sainte-maxime 1914

Henri Lebasque’s ‘La diseuse de bonne aventure, sainte-maxime’ is a moment captured in oil paint. There are soft hues, peachy pinks and creams, a summery light filtering through the scene. You can almost feel the heat radiating from the canvas. I imagine Lebasque, squinting in the bright sunlight, palette in hand, trying to capture the scene before him. A woman in a red floral dress is reading another woman’s palm under the shade of a white parasol. There’s a pile of fruit scattered on the steps, adding to the scene’s casual, improvised feel. The paint isn’t applied thickly, but in thin washes, allowing the texture of the canvas to come through. The composition feels like a momentary glimpse, a snapshot of everyday life. The woman’s red dress sings against the soft, muted tones of the background. It’s a painting about light and color, about capturing a fleeting moment in time. It reminds me of the work of other painters like Bonnard or Vuillard. Artists are always in conversation with one another, aren’t they? Trying to capture the world around them, one brushstroke at a time.