The Japanese Bridge 5 1924

This painting of a Japanese bridge was made by Claude Monet, but when? No one knows exactly. I love how the colors here feel both intense and softened. It's a really interesting balance he strikes. The paint is applied in such a way that the individual strokes remain visible. You can see how the colors mix optically, rather than on the palette. Look at the way the blues and greens of the bridge itself are dabbed on with thick strokes. They almost seem to vibrate against the warmer tones surrounding them. It’s a way of capturing light and atmosphere, but also a very physical, almost tactile way of painting. There’s a real push and pull between abstraction and representation here. Monet’s series paintings remind me of Philip Guston, and the way he returned to the same motifs over and over again. Art is a conversation, and like any good conversation, it’s open to interpretation and reinterpretation.