O'Malley Home (Achill Island, County Mayo, Ireland) 1913

Robert Henri's painting of the O'Malley Home on Achill Island seems to be made with oil on canvas, and I get a feeling that it was created en plein air. You can almost feel the breeze and smell the damp earth. Henri's brushstrokes are so alive, like he's wrestling with the paint to capture the raw energy of the Irish landscape. Look at how he builds up the surface with these thick, juicy strokes of green and ochre. The way the paint sits on the canvas, you can almost feel the texture of the grass and the rough thatch of the cottage roofs. I'm drawn to this little patch of bright yellow in the foreground. It's just a tiny dab of color, but it really pops against all that green, and it suggests the land trying to give something back. It reminds me a little of Van Gogh's landscapes, but with a bit more grit and maybe a touch of melancholy. It feels like a snapshot of a fleeting moment, a place caught between beauty and hardship.