Portrait of William B. Kurtz 1903

Thomas Eakins made this portrait of William B. Kurtz with oil on canvas. Isn't it something how the dark palette kind of throws the subject into relief? It's like Eakins is saying, "Here's a person, rendered simply, honestly." The beauty here lies in the physicality of the paint. Look at the way the light catches Kurtz's face, the thick impasto creating texture and depth. And then there's his suit, a sea of muted browns and grays, painted with such understated confidence. Notice the hands, casually tucked into his pockets. Each brushstroke feels deliberate, like Eakins is slowly building up the image, layer by layer. Eakins was all about capturing the real, no frills, no artifice. You can see a similar ethos in the work of Lucian Freud, who stripped away the surface to reveal the raw humanity beneath. Art's not about pretty pictures, it's about looking, seeing, feeling.