Glimpse of the Sea, Long Island 1906

Robert Julian Onderdonk painted this landscape, Glimpse of the Sea, Long Island, in oil. It's very turn of the century, feeling a bit like an American Impressionist scene, with these autumnal colors. There's a real sense of the materiality of paint here; you can see it’s not about a smooth surface, but about dabs and strokes of color, like he's building up the scene through touch. Look how the foreground almost vibrates with greens and browns, like he’s trying to catch the light as it flickers across the grass. There's a path leading toward the water, but it kind of dissolves into shadow. Then there is the single tree that dominates the scene with its orange foliage, and that lone sailboat out on the horizon, so small, it's like a dream. The paintings of someone like George Bellows come to mind. Both artists seem fascinated by the everyday, but Onderdonk has more of a soft-focus, romantic feel, it's less about gritty realism than a longing for something just out of reach.