Newfields, New Hampshire 1906

Childe Hassam created this watercolour painting, ‘Newfields, New Hampshire’. Note how the composition is structured in horizontal bands. Starting from the bottom with the quick, broken brushstrokes of the foreground, then moving to the middle ground with its more defined shapes of trees and houses, up to the sky, which is rendered with loose washes of blues and greys. There is a clear flattening of perspective here, characteristic of Impressionism, which reduces depth and emphasizes surface. Hassam uses colour and form to create a sense of atmosphere and light, focusing on the transient effects of nature rather than precise representational detail. The brushstrokes and colour harmonies of the painting challenge the viewer to construct their own reading of the scene. Consider how this focus on the formal qualities of the painting anticipates later developments in abstract art.