Bather 1905

Childe Hassam made 'Bather' with oil on canvas using dabs and dashes of sun-drenched colour. Just imagine Hassam, outside, squinting at the light as he attempts to capture the shimmering effects of light filtering through the trees. Look at the way the brushstrokes vibrate against one another to create a sense of movement. You can almost feel the breeze rustling through the leaves and the dappled sunlight on your skin. I bet he mixed up a bunch of yellows and greens to capture the lushness of the landscape. The paint looks relatively thin, applied in quick, impressionistic strokes to create a sense of immediacy. See how he added a figure, almost concealed within the brushwork of the lower-left corner? Painters learn from each other, don’t they? The way the light breaks up into these vibrant flecks makes me think of the way Monet and Renoir messed around with plein air painting. I mean, we are all bathing in something.