The March Wind 1902

Robert Henri created this landscape painting, titled 'The March Wind,' using brushes and oil paint, sometime between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Look at these sweeping gestures of color; they dominate the canvas, a wash of greens and grays hinting at the wind’s wild energy. I imagine Henri outside, maybe in a field, the wind pushing him as he tries to capture the scene on his canvas. There's a kinship with other landscape painters of the time, like the tonalists, but Henri adds a rawness, an edge that feels very modern. I keep coming back to the bending tree, how it fights against the wind, a single brushstroke capturing its struggle. That tree is all of us, right? Henri's work reminds us that painting is an act of call and response. He shows us that conversation is a beautiful collaboration between artists across generations. It shows that painting is never really finished, just paused for a while.