Nude on the Cliffs 1906

Childe Hassam made this painting, Nude on the Cliffs, with oil paint, and it feels like an exercise in different types of touch. The brushwork is visible and varied, like an exploration of paint itself. Looking closely, you see the cliff face built up with these short, dabby strokes. The colors are mixed right on the canvas, these greens, yellows, and browns, and it gives the rock a real sense of texture. Then, beside it, the water is this shimmering, almost transparent wash. There's a contrast between how the nude is rendered, with these soft, blended tones, and how the cliff is handled with that rough, almost crude, directness. Hassam is interested in the process itself. There's this feeling that painting is a conversation between the artist and the materials, and this piece really brings that to the foreground. It reminds me a bit of Cézanne, how he used paint to build form, not just describe it. You get the sense that Hassam is figuring it out as he goes.