Nudes under Trees 1911

Franz Marc painted ‘Nudes under Trees’ with oil on canvas, and what strikes me is how he makes the painting itself a kind of raw encounter. The colour palette is all over the place, not exactly realistic, yet there's a harmony in the clash. The paint application is direct, you can see the marks of the brush. Look at that ultramarine shadow draped over the nude to the right, how it bleeds into the flesh tones, or the way the colors vibrate. It's a dance between representation and abstraction. Marc’s nudies remind me of Gauguin's Tahitians, but here, the scene feels distinctly European, almost claustrophobic. Both artists twist and bend the so-called rules of figuration. It's like they're saying, ‘Hey, reality is overrated. Let’s paint what we feel, not just what we see.’ And in that, there's a truth that transcends mere representation.