Rantakallioita 1905

"Rantakallioita," or "Shoreline Rocks," was painted around 1905 by Alfred William Finch, probably en plein air, right there on the rocks. Look at the fleshy pinks, violets, and blues. I imagine Finch, squinting in the sun, mixing lavender shadows and creamy highlights, trying to capture the light as it shimmered off the water. It looks like he applied the paint in small, deliberate strokes, each dab building up the form and texture. The rocks themselves seem to breathe, don't they? Like they’re part of the same family as the water and sky. Finch was clearly plugged into the Impressionist project of trying to find a new way of seeing. I see echoes of Monet and the Pointillists. Artists are always having a conversation, remixing old ideas and trying to find something new. For Finch, I think painting wasn't about capturing a perfect image, but about exploring the play of light and color, expressing a fleeting, personal experience of being in that place. And in this piece, that feeling is everything.