Silence 1908

Arthur Beecher Carles made this painting, Silence, with oil on canvas, and it really hums with quiet, reflective contemplation. The canvas has a soft glow, a kind of luminous quality in the layers and layers of thin, washy paint. Look at the figure’s hair against the pale sky - the blending is so smooth, it almost feels like a watercolor. The application of the pigment is so smooth it is as if his own hand barely touched the canvas. The color palette and the way Carles uses light and shadow to create depth in the water makes it feel like time is standing still. This guy was soaking in what he was seeing and feeling, just like a painter should! Artists like Whistler were really exploring similar moody, atmospheric compositions. It's like they were all tuning into the same frequency, vibing on the beauty of the in-between moments.