Paysage À Collioure 1905

Henri Matisse created this painting of Collioure with oil on canvas. It's a landscape chopped into slabs of colour. I imagine Matisse standing in that field with his easel, trying to find a way to capture the feeling of being there, in that place. The paint isn’t too thick, but it's definitely present, a skin on the canvas. It's a kind of record of his movements, and the movements of his mind as he looked and painted. Look at that dark, almost black tree trunk – a bold stroke! It’s like he just went for it, right? That confident gesture anchors the whole composition. The colours are so joyful, like a visual feast of greens, blues, and yellows, not exactly like reality, but a heightened, emotional version of it. You can see how he's looking at the world around him and translating what he sees into these dabs and strokes of pure colour. It reminds me of other painters who were trying to break free from representation, like Cézanne, or even Van Gogh. It is as if they were all in conversation, pushing each other to see and feel more deeply.