Melting Snow 1910

Vilhelms Purvitis made this painting, ‘Melting Snow’ with oil paint. Look at the surface of the painting. The brushstrokes are super visible, almost like he's sculpting with paint. You can see how he’s mixed blues, whites, and grays to capture the light reflecting off the ice and water. The colors aren't blended smoothly, but laid down next to each other, which gives the whole scene a vibrant, shimmering quality. There's this one patch of ice in the foreground where you can see the layering of the paint really clearly. It’s built up with these little dabs and dashes of color. It’s like he’s trying to capture the way light breaks up and dances across the surface. It reminds me a little of Monet and the Impressionists, in the way he uses color and light to capture a fleeting moment. He’s not just painting a landscape; he’s painting an experience, an atmosphere. It’s beautiful!