Corot at the Hugh Lane Gallery Dublin City

When I look at these paintings vs basically any contemporary paintings it really strikes me how overly saturated most paintings today look. And it’s only gotten worse recently because that’s what looks good to people conditioned to view things on Instagram or on HD screens. When in fact the muted tones like Corot and uses here are so much more poetic and beautiful. As you can see these works are still full of colour, but the colour is so much more harmonious than what you see in most work today. Just because they aren’t garish and bright doesn’t mean they are merely boring, stodgy paintings for stuffy drawing rooms. Then when you look at how effortlessly he can draw tree branches against a sky... If you’ve ever tried to do it you will get a sense of just how amazing this man was with a brush. Whether it’s from talent or practice it’s just untouchable. You would have to paint hundreds of trees before you couls dash off branches like that and have them look so good. As wonderful as it is to see these works it can nearly discourage you as a painter because to get to that level requires not only a rare talent but a sense of touch that only comes with constant consistent practice - and most of us, unless we come from a rich background and don’t need to work some other job, we would struggle to even have time to get that amount of time to practice plein air painting in nature. And rich or poor it would take extreme dedication, especially in the modern age of so many digital distractions.