Mount Tamalpais 1985

Editor: This is "Mount Tamalpais," painted by Etel Adnan in 1985, using acrylic paint. It feels so calm, almost meditative, but there's also something powerful about it. I'm curious, what do you see when you look at this piece? Curator: Well, immediately I'm struck by the repeated, almost architectural arrangement of color blocks. It’s a landscape, yes, but also a map, perhaps a psychological one. Mount Tamalpais itself is more than a geographical location. Think about it as an icon – it stands for home, for belonging, perhaps even for the possibility of return. What do the pastel colors evoke in you? Editor: That's interesting – a psychological map. I guess the pastel shades, the blues and pinks, make me feel a sense of peace, almost like a dream. It’s a very personal, internal kind of landscape, not just a picture of a mountain. Curator: Exactly! And consider how the abstract shapes, particularly in the sky, almost mirror the mountain's form. Do you think that reflects a harmony between the inner self and the outer world? Adnan repeats symbols of the mountain through multiple artworks across decades – consider that this symbolic landscape speaks to the complex relationship between memory, identity and place. Editor: I do, yes! I never thought about it that way before, but the repetition does create that feeling of a deep, lasting connection. Curator: Adnan once said she didn't ‘need to be close to nature’ to paint a landscape, ‘but to have it inside’ her. How do you think this work succeeds in internalizing that sense of nature, landscape, home and belonging? Editor: I think it's through those colors and simplified forms – they bypass the need for realism and tap into something more essential, almost archetypal, about our connection to place. Curator: Indeed. I feel like I better understand her creative vision now too. Thank you for the insight.