A boat 1901

Odilon Redon created 'A boat' with oil on canvas, and it’s all about atmosphere. I can really feel the artist pushing and pulling the paint across the surface here; it's as if he's conjuring a world rather than just representing it. The canvas is covered with earth tones – ochre, brown, and a little green – but the light is what gets me. It feels like a hazy dream, all luminous and indistinct. Look at how the brushstrokes build up the sky, there is an oddness to it. I imagine Redon, caught between representation and abstraction, building up the image from strokes and washes, letting the painting guide the way. You know, it reminds me of Ryder's seascapes, or even some of Turner's more out-there works. It's like they're all in dialogue across time, asking similar questions about vision and feeling. Each one giving us a different answer with paint.