New England 1910

Maurice Prendergast made “New England” with oil on canvas, and looking at it now, I can almost feel the brush in my own hand. The sky, a flurry of blue and white strokes, feels like a quick, almost impatient capturing of a fleeting moment. I can imagine Prendergast standing there, trying to get it all down before the light changed or the clouds drifted away. I bet he was thinking about how to make the scene fresh, like those Impressionists, but with his own twist. The paint is dabbed on, not too thick, but with enough texture to make it interesting. Each little touch of color vibrates, making the whole scene shimmer. That one stroke of bright yellow right in the middle of a tree-- what was he thinking? Maybe he just wanted to wake us up, to make us really see the painting, not just glance at it. It feels like he’s whispering, “Hey, look closer!” And in that looking, maybe we find our own New England, our own version of seeing. It makes you think about how we artists, we're all just talking to each other across time, aren't we?