The Furs 1911

Robert Lewis Reid made "The Furs" with oil on canvas, and it’s wild, right? Look at those strokes of juicy colour in the background. I can only imagine Reid, with his brush loaded, going for it, pushing and pulling the paint around. He’s built up this incredible surface. The model gazes out, but the brushwork feels like the real subject. Maybe the title, "The Furs" is a bit of a gag, because the brushstrokes are so evocative. They build a sensation of plushness. I bet Reid was influenced by Impressionism. The energy of the strokes makes me think of someone like John Singer Sargent. Painters are magpies, they see and borrow from each other. And that’s the joy of painting, seeing how different people try to solve the same problem, how to make a feeling visible. How can you make a painting become something that makes you feel?