River Epte, Giverny 1910

Rose O’Neill captured the River Epte at Giverny, probably with oil on canvas, in this dreamy landscape. Look at the staccato marks of greens, yellows and blues, dashed on with such immediacy it feels like you could be standing there. I imagine O’Neill completely immersed in the scene, trying to capture the shimmering light on the water. What’s wonderful is how the brushstrokes themselves mimic this effect, those short, broken strokes evoke the flickering of light and movement of water. And the choice of colors—the purples in the tree trunks against the watery blues—it's all quite daring, especially for the time. That one trunk on the left, how the violet bleeds into the blue of the water. It is so soft and hazy, a symphony of color! This feels like a very personal response to a place, and continues a conversation with the Impressionists, who were of course doing similar things at Giverny. I feel like she’s pushing that language forward, searching for new ways to capture feeling.