The clearing, or the luncheon on the grass 1938

Andre Derain made this scene of nudes in a landscape, with oil on canvas. I imagine him standing back, squinting, deciding where to put his next mark. There's this overall yellowish tint, and these bodies that feel both classical and weirdly modern, like Derain's trying to wrestle with tradition but can't quite keep it in line. The paint looks like he's layered it on, not too thick, but enough to give it some oomph, a texture that makes you want to touch it, even though you definitely shouldn't. Look at the way the figures are posed, so casual, almost like they're saying, "Yeah, we're naked, what's it to you?" The arrangement of the bodies and the picnic items in the front of the picture plane are reminiscent of Manet. It's like he's winking at the history of painting while doing his own thing, and it makes you wonder what the heck he was thinking. Derain, like all of us, was in conversation with the painters that came before him.