Purple Mountains, Vence 1926

Marsden Hartley painted these mountains in Vence, France, with oils, sometime in his lifetime. It’s like he's making a puzzle but instead of fitting pieces together, he’s nudging the colors until they feel right. Look at how he handles the paint, building these flat planes with such confidence. The mountains roll back in shades of lavender and violet, and I just love how the snow-capped peaks have these thick, juicy strokes of white and gray. It’s like he’s tasting the landscape, figuring out what it feels like to be there. Check out the road snaking through the valley, it’s a cool touch! A wiggly path that invites you to get lost in the scene. It reminds me a little bit of Cezanne, the way he simplifies and abstracts the landscape, but there’s also something so uniquely Hartley about it. He's really doing his own thing. It’s not just a landscape, it’s a feeling, an experience.