Country house 1910

Henri Martin painted this ‘Country house’ with flicks of colour, using light, like he was weaving it. It’s all there, violet shadows, and the house, perched up above the hill. I can just picture him, out in the landscape, squinting, trying to capture a feeling. What was it like to be him? To stand there and dab at the canvas with intention? It’s a process, this seeing and translating. Look how he’s built up the ground with colour; mauves and pinks and greens – a rich tapestry, not just a flat field. Each stroke is a tiny decision, a little experiment in perception. And those shadows! They’re not just dark; they’re alive with blues and purples. You can see the influence of impressionism, that preoccupation with light, but Martin’s doing his own thing, pushing it, making it his own language. Painting, in the end, is just people talking to each other, across time.