The Red Oak (no.2) 1911

Willard Metcalf made this painting of an oak tree in a field with oil paint, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. It’s giving me the feeling of a day in early fall. You know, when the light is still pretty high-key but there’s a little nip in the air. There's something lovely about the way he’s built up the surface with these tiny dabs of paint. It reminds me of weaving, like he’s building the image thread by thread. Look at the shadow of the big oak tree. See how it’s not just one flat color? He’s mixed all these greens and blues and even some browns in there. It’s like he’s trying to capture the feeling of shade, not just the look of it. That big red tree is amazing, but I think the real star of the show is that little yellow sapling on the left. The way it reaches up toward the sky, like it’s trying to catch the last bit of summer. You can see that he has looked at Monet and Sisley, but he has his own thing going on, his own way of seeing the world. And that’s what makes art so great, right?