White Wash 

Mark Beck created this painting, ‘White Wash,’ sometime in the 20th century, and it evokes complex ideas about home, nature, and race. The image shows a family looking at a house being consumed by the ocean. Beck made this painting in America, and it directly confronts the myth of the American dream, particularly in terms of property ownership. The ocean doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t matter how beautiful or well-built the house is, nature reclaims it all the same. Likewise, racial discrimination is a social ill that indiscriminately seeks to destroy individual dreams. The American dream is sold as something universally accessible, but the picture complicates that idea. Understanding the full meaning of 'White Wash' would involve looking into the social and economic conditions of 20th-century America, as well as the artist's background and intentions. That work relies on understanding the social context.