Roses 1925

Samuel Peploe’s painting, Roses, is like a little stage set, all bright colors and bold shapes. I can almost feel the brushstrokes piling up, one after another. You know, I bet Peploe was totally into Cézanne, with the way he simplifies everything, but he's also got this crazy Fauvist thing going on with those bright colors. Look at that yellow! It's almost screaming at you. And the roses are just, like, plopped in there with big dollops of paint. I wonder if he was thinking about Matisse too? I think he was maybe thinking about all those guys, and trying to figure out his own thing. It’s like he's saying, "Yeah, I see you, but I'm gonna do it my way." Artists are always talking to each other, across time. It's one big conversation. And paintings, well they're just frozen moments in that conversation.