Dahlias Au Soleil c. 1925

Henri Martin built this painting, Dahlias Au Soleil, with countless tiny strokes, little dabs of oil paint. Can you imagine Martin with his brush, working en plein air? Squinting at the light, deciding where to place each little mark? This kind of painting is built, atom by atom, from sensory experience. Think about how each color reflects off of another, the surface vibrating with optical mixing. There's a certain looseness here too, though. Look closely, the brushstrokes feel almost haphazard. The eye perceives the objects in the painting, flowers, fruit, a teacup, but the forms have a dissolving quality. How the artist applied paint can affect how we think about the objects and the way that we perceive them. The artist must have been in conversation with the Pointillists, and maybe the Impressionists too? Artists are always talking to each other across time, inspiring each other’s process. This painting shows how color can be light, and light can be feeling.