Harlem Valley, Winter 1921

Ernest Lawson painted ‘Harlem Valley, Winter’ with oil on canvas, and what strikes me is his thick, almost sculptural approach to the paint. Each dab feels like a deliberate decision, a kind of building up, like adding layer upon layer of snow itself. Look closely, and you’ll notice how Lawson uses the texture of the paint to mimic the roughness of the winter landscape. The whites and grays aren't flat; they're alive with subtle variations. See the way he suggests the bare trees with just a few strokes? It's a dance between representation and abstraction. The green patch in the foreground really pops. Lawson's work reminds me a bit of Camille Pissarro, another painter who wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty and really dig into the material of paint. Both artists show us that a painting isn't just a picture – it's an object, a thing made of stuff, and the way that stuff is handled can tell us just as much as the image itself.