Wreck of the Polias 2002

This is Jamie Wyeth's painting *Wreck of the Polias*, and it looks like it was made with oil paint. There's this massive propeller looming over the scene like a big, dark question mark. Then, these little dogs are perched on some craggy rocks, like they’re the only witnesses to this weird, monumental event. I feel a deep sympathy for Wyeth here, imaging his thoughts while making it. Was he thinking about man and nature? About the scale of things, and how we, like those little pups, are just trying to make sense of it all? The brushwork is just beautiful, so thick and luscious on the rocks, giving them real weight and texture. While the sky is all soft and dreamy. That contrast makes the painting so alive. It reminds me of Winslow Homer, who also spent time painting on the coast of Maine. Painters are always talking to each other, even across time, riffing on the same themes, the same light, trying to capture something that's always just out of reach.