Mount Katahdin, Maine 1942

Marsden Hartley made this painting of Mount Katahdin in Maine using expressive brushstrokes and a brooding palette. The forms seem to materialize from the darkness, the colors thinned to transparent washes. Imagine him, brush in hand, coaxing these monumental forms into being, each stroke a delicate balance between control and surrender. I wonder if Hartley felt a kinship with that sturdy pine tree standing defiant against the imposing mountain range. The texture! You can almost feel the roughness of the mountain’s craggy peaks against your fingertips. The painting, a symphony of blues and reds, speaks of the silent dialogue between the artist and nature. It’s like he’s answering Cézanne's call to see nature through the lens of geometric form, but infusing it with a uniquely American spirit. Hartley, like all of us, was part of a chain of painters, each one echoing, responding to, and transforming the voices of the past. This landscape embodies the emotional and intellectual energy of seeing the world anew.