Old House, Rue des Arpents, Rouen, I 1909

This etching, *Old House, Rue des Arpents, Rouen, I*, captures a street scene, the architecture tilting and swaying with a life of its own. Marin made this image by dragging a tool across a metal plate to create these tiny grooves. Imagine him there, hunched over the plate, coaxing out these lines, the burr of the tool a kind of scratching, an attempt to get at the world by feeling it out. It looks so fast, so assured, but each line probably took a minute to carve, a moment of consideration. Those quick, sketchy marks somehow convey the weight of the building, the hustle of people in the street. The way the lines swarm and flicker reminds me of other etchers like Whistler or even some of the German Expressionists. Artists are always talking to each other across time, aren't they? Sharing tips and secrets, riffing off each other's moves. In this sense, painting is an ongoing conversation. It’s about embracing the beautiful mess of it all and trusting the process.