Surf 1902

Karl Nordström made this artwork called 'Surf' and looking at it now, I imagine him wrestling with the waves, trying to pin them down with his marks. It's mostly grays and whites, like a stormy day, but there’s so much movement. You can almost feel the spray. I wonder if Nordström was thinking about other artists who painted the sea, like maybe Courbet. They were all trying to capture something wild and untamable. There's something so simple about the gesture, but together they build up the feeling of the rough sea. And isn’t that what art is all about, this constant conversation?