Lake Afternoon 1935

Arthur Dove conjured Lake Afternoon in paint, somewhere in time, and now it lives at the Phillips Collection. Look at how the layers of blue and green meet in the background. I wonder what Dove was thinking, standing before his canvas. The orange form at the center is monumental in its simplicity. It’s a landscape, but also something else, something felt. I'm thinking about this orange shape. It anchors the composition, but it also feels like a question mark. Dove lets the paint do its thing, allowing the colors to breathe and the forms to suggest rather than declare. It’s an act of trust, both in the medium and in the viewer. Then the two dog-like figures on either side, their necks craned, remind me of other animal paintings, like Franz Marc’s blue horses. Artists are always riffing off each other, you know? Each brushstroke is a tiny decision, a little yes or no, leading to this moment, right here, right now.