Apartment Houses, Paris 1946

Jean Dubuffet made "Apartment Houses, Paris" with oil paint, and you can see how he really worked the surface. The paint is thick, almost like mud, and it's got this gritty, earthy quality that I just love. Dubuffet was all about challenging traditional ideas of beauty, and this painting is a great example. He’s not trying to create a perfect representation of Paris; instead, he’s giving us his raw, unfiltered vision. I keep coming back to the figures, especially the ones in the windows. They're like little ghosts peering out, and their simple, childlike forms add a layer of innocence to the scene. They remind me of figures in a Paul Klee painting, playful but also a little haunting. Dubuffet’s work really opens up this space for us to see the world in a new way.