Chestnut Trees in Bloom c. 1905 - 1906

Maurice de Vlaminck made this oil painting, Chestnut Trees in Bloom, with short brushstrokes and a vivid palette of reds, greens, yellows, and blues. It looks like he was slapping the paint on with pure exuberance. I can imagine Vlaminck standing before his canvas, squinting at the scene before him, maybe muttering to himself as he mixed his colors. Look at how he’s rendered the leaves: each dab feels like a tiny explosion of color. It’s not about capturing reality, but about conveying the feeling of being immersed in nature, right? There's a figure of a child placed centrally in the scene and yet she feels very small amid the abundance of growth surrounding her. Vlaminck reminds me of other painters like Van Gogh or even the later work of Monet. It's like he’s saying, “Let’s not just paint what we see, but how we feel when we see it."