Perryville Station 1940

Martyl Langsdorf made this painting of Perryville Station with loose brushstrokes in a muted palette. The painting’s been built up layer by layer, shifting until Langsdorf hit a feeling that was right. I wonder, was this her local train station? It's certainly a quiet scene. Is there something melancholy about it? I imagine her, perhaps returning home. There’s such an odd stillness – the sky, the grass, even the tracks don’t seem to move. It reminds me of some of Edward Hopper’s paintings of quiet American scenes, lonely and still. Look at how the perspective lines of the tracks lead the eye into the distance. It’s like she’s saying that the future stretches out before us, and we’re all on our own tracks. Painters are constantly talking to one another across time. Each artwork is like a contribution to an ongoing discussion. It's this conversation, this exchange of ideas, that makes art so special, as each artist inspires the next generation's creativity.