Landscape: A Valley 19th-20th century

Curator: Ah, this watercolor piece, entitled "Landscape: A Valley," is from the hand of Philip Wilson Steer and is currently housed in the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It feels like a sigh... or a memory. The way the colors bleed into one another creates this hazy, dreamlike quality. Curator: I agree. The muted palette is certainly doing a lot of work, establishing a sense of tranquility, even melancholy. Notice how Steer uses washes of color rather than distinct lines to delineate the forms of the trees and the distant buildings. Editor: Yes, it's almost as if he's inviting the viewer to complete the picture in their own mind. And look at the composition – the high vantage point, the sweeping view. It’s like we’re floating above the scene, observing life from a distance. Perhaps suggesting the ephemeral nature of our experiences? Curator: I love that interpretation. I think that even absent the date, the clothing of the time, the artist clearly captured in this picture a desire to remember something. Something that already feels like it is slipping away. Editor: It does have that quality, doesn't it? A gentle reminder of the beauty and the fleeting nature of the world around us.