The Lute 1904

Thomas Dewing's ‘The Lute’ is an oil painting that invites you into a hazy, dreamlike scene of women in a landscape of soft greens. I can only imagine how this painting came into being, shifting, emerging, through trial, error, and intuition. Dewing has used such soft brushwork, building up layers of thin paint to create a hazy atmosphere, almost like a memory fading at the edges. I sympathize with Dewing: what was he thinking when he made this? How did he layer those greens, moving from warm to cool, echoing the dresses of the figures? He may have been influenced by Whistler. Look at how a single, soft gesture defines the line of a shoulder or the curve of a lute. There’s such an intimate understanding of form and light. Artists are always in conversation, influencing and inspiring one another's creativity across time. Painting is an ongoing form of embodied expression that allows for multiple interpretations and meanings.