Mount Hood 1908

Childe Hassam made this painting of Mount Hood with oil on canvas, and it's just dreamy. Look at those strokes, kind of choppy and loose, like he's trying to catch a feeling more than a photograph. The colours, though! He’s using all these blues and whites, and just a touch of yellow, so the whole thing feels cool and distant, but somehow still warm and inviting. I love how the strokes of colour feel so physical, almost like you could reach out and touch them, but then the scene itself is so far away. It's a dance between being right here and floating off into the distance. Notice the dark blues at the bottom, and how they create an anchor for the mountain, making it feel even bigger. Hassam's work, in general, is like a conversation with the French Impressionists, but he's doing his own thing, trying to capture the light and the feeling of a place. It's like he's saying, "Hey, art isn't about copying what you see; it's about how you feel when you see it."