The Flood 1903

Arthur Bowen Davies painted "The Flood" with oil on canvas, and the way he's layered those muddy greens and golds, it's all about process, about building up this atmosphere. It feels like he was just letting the paint do its thing, kinda like I do in my own work. Look at the texture in those trees – those aren't just leaves, they’re daubs and jabs of thick paint, each one a little decision, a little feeling. The water is a mess of quick strokes, reflecting light but also chaos. It’s like he’s saying, "Here’s the surface, but here's also all the messy stuff underneath". My eye keeps getting drawn to the right side of the painting, to those almost luminous patches amongst the darker greens. Is it foliage or foam? It's hard to tell. I feel like Davies had to have looked at artists like Albert Pinkham Ryder to achieve this. Both artists embrace that sense of dreamlike uncertainty, where nothing is quite fixed, and every viewing reveals something new. It’s not about answers, but about the endless possibilities of seeing.