The Retreating Fog, Morning, Les Andelys 1902

Maxime Maufra made this foggy waterscape with oil on canvas. It feels like he must have been right there, painting *en plein air*. Look at the sky, it is almost entirely made of brushstrokes—dabs and dashes of grey, white, and the faintest green. You can almost feel him layering the paint on, one stroke at a time. I wonder if Maufra was chasing something ephemeral, like the way the light shifted or the fog lifted? Painting must have been so frustrating, trying to keep up with nature like that. I’m reminded of Monet’s paintings of the Thames in London, or Whistler’s nocturnes. They were all trying to capture a moment, a feeling, rather than a literal depiction. In painting, there is a constant push and pull, as artists build on the work of those who came before them, questioning and reinterpreting the world around them. It's a conversation, you know?