Vigen ved En Vaux, Cassis 1911

Othon Friesz made Vigen ved En Vaux, Cassis, a watercolor, at some point in his career. The scene is so airy, with these light washes creating a space that feels both real and dreamlike. You can almost feel the breeze coming off the water. Look at the way Friesz uses color. It’s not about being realistic, but about creating a mood. The blues and purples in the cliffs give them a cool, almost otherworldly feel, while the yellows and oranges in the sky hint at warmth and light. Notice how the blues in the lower right are pulled downwards in long strokes, creating a sense of depth and movement. The way the colors blend and bleed into each other, its so subtle. Friesz was part of the Fauvist movement, and you can see that influence here in the bold use of color and simplified forms. But there's also something very personal and intimate about this work, a sense of the artist just trying to capture a fleeting moment. Art is just a conversation, right? It's an artist thinking about what other artists have done and then doing their own thing.