Seated man 1914

This is Roger de La Fresnaye's "Seated Man", an oil on canvas piece. The flat planes of color, the blues, reds, and whites, create a sort of architectural structure around the figure. It feels like the artist is building up the composition, one block at a time, almost like a kid with building blocks. The texture's smooth, but you can still sense the hand of the artist in the way the paint's applied. Look at how the face is broken down into geometric shapes, creating an almost mask-like effect, and the shadow cast by the form in the lower left corner, its so intriguing. It's like La Fresnaye is playing with perception, inviting us to piece together the image in our own minds. La Fresnaye reminds me of Juan Gris, who also loved to fracture forms and create these faceted, jewel-like surfaces. It's like they're both saying, "Hey, reality is messy, let's break it down and build it back up in a new way." Art, after all, is about seeing things differently, embracing the ambiguity, and finding beauty in the unexpected.