Minesweepers, Halifax 1919

Arthur Lismer made this painting of minesweepers in Halifax. You can almost feel him wrestling with the canvas, right? The sea churns beneath the ships, and the sky is a swirl of blues and yellows. It feels like he's built up the paint in thick layers, especially in those waves, giving them real weight and movement. I wonder what he was thinking, what he was trying to capture. Maybe the anxiety of wartime, the constant motion, the immensity of the ocean against these tiny ships. Look at the way he’s rendered the smoke billowing from the ship’s chimney - a sort of dark, ominous cloud, heavy and looming. It reminds me of the gestural marks of de Kooning, that same urgent energy. Lismer makes the whole scene feel immediate, like we’re right there with him, witnessing this moment. And that's the thing about painting, isn't it? It's not just about what you see, but how you feel.