Sunrise 1924

Arthur Dove coaxed this ‘Sunrise’ into being with oil paint on canvas. The canvas seems to hum with life, doesn’t it? There are these wavy horizontal bands, stacked on top of each other. I can almost feel the artist feeling his way through the dawn. I imagine him thinking, how can I make a feeling visible? Each layer feels like a different stage of perception, like the way the world slowly comes into focus as the sun rises. Look at the way he handles that blue. The paint is laid on so carefully, each stroke distinct, building to a sense of depth. It feels like a cousin to the work of Marsden Hartley. Painters are always responding to each other, even without knowing it. You feel the continuity, don’t you? Painting is such a funny thing; each mark is a question, and the painting is the answer.