Girl in a Birch Forest c. 1903

Paula Modersohn-Becker created this painting of a girl in a birch forest with oil on canvas. It's full of vertical strokes of white and brown with a smattering of blues—the trees and the sky peeking through. I can imagine her standing there, working on the canvas, maybe outside, and maybe from her imagination, trying to get the thickness of the tree trunks, the way the light filters. It feels as though she is feeling her way through the painting. The paint is applied in a way that's not too precious, but direct. There's something raw about that application. I keep thinking about how the girl's red dress contrasts with the cool blues and whites. It brings the figure forward, but she also blends in, part of the overall scene. Modersohn-Becker, like many of us painters, was in conversation with other artists—wrestling with how to see and depict the world. With this painting, she seemed to be making something new, full of honesty and feeling. That’s what keeps me painting too.