The Sea of Galilee, looking towards Semakh from Tiberias Road 1919

George Washington Lambert created "The Sea of Galilee, looking towards Semakh from Tiberias Road" with oil paints and a loose, confident hand. It’s a process of seeing and responding, a direct capture of a moment in time. Look at the way Lambert has handled the paint, especially in the foreground. It’s thick, almost sculptural, capturing the rough texture of the shoreline. The strokes are visible, energetic, and each dab feels like a small, independent decision. Notice the way the light catches the tops of those strokes. The blues and greys of the lake and sky are thin washes by contrast, and he keeps things tonally very close – just a breath between one tone and the next. It’s almost as if he’s building the painting from the ground up, layering experience upon experience. Lambert shares a certain sensibility with painters like Bonnard, who also found ways to make visible the very act of seeing. There’s a real feeling of openness here, an invitation to experience the world as something provisional, evolving and always open to change.