Lost Gardens (Pomone) 1929

This painting, Lost Gardens, by Ludovic Alleaume, sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century, is oil on canvas. Look at the palette, how the light catches the fruit in the garland, the way the shadows seem to be filled with colour. You can see the artist felt their way through the process, not afraid to let the paint reveal itself. The surface is smooth, but there’s a real sense of the physicality of the paint. Notice the tones and the way the brushstrokes suggest the volume of the fruit, and the model’s form. It’s not about hiding the work, but showing it. There’s a real sense of play, a love of materials, of pushing the paint around. This embracing of ambiguity is something I find inspiring. It reminds me of the work of Pierre Bonnard, and that sense of a painting being alive, always in process, never quite finished.