Harbor Mole 1913

Lyonel Feininger made this painting, Harbor Mole, with oil on canvas. Look at the way he's built up this scene, not quite abstract but definitely not a straight-up landscape. It’s like he’s showing us how he sees rather than just what he sees. Check out how the brushstrokes are like facets, fitting together to create a sense of light and space. The colours, mostly muted greens and blues, give off a hazy, dreamlike feeling, except for that flash of red which grabs your eye. The paint isn’t too thick, but you can still see the texture, the way he’s layered it on. There's a real sense of the hand here, of a process unfolding. If you compare this to some of Paul Klee's work, you might find a similar playfulness with form and colour. For both, art’s not about copying reality, it’s about creating a new way of experiencing it.