The Gathering 1907

Maurice Denis painted "The Gathering" with oil on cardboard. Look at how he’s built up this scene with such visible, energetic marks. The painting feels like a record of his process. You can imagine him working, one brushstroke at a time, building up the layers of color. There’s a real materiality to this piece, right? Thick paint, applied in short, choppy strokes. See how the colors – mostly pastels, blues, and pinks – blend together, creating a soft, dreamlike effect? Then, there are these vertical strokes, like little dashes, that define the figures, the trees. They remind me of Seurat's pointillism, but looser, more expressive. It is like Denis is making something solid out of ephemeral touches. It makes me think of Vuillard, another artist who was interested in these intimate, interior scenes. But where Vuillard might be more focused on the pattern, Denis is after something more spiritual, more emotional. These aren’t just figures; they’re souls gathering in a sacred space. And, ultimately, that’s what great art does, right? It gathers us together, in front of the image, to share in the experience of seeing.