Salt Dip c. 1936

John Dana made this 'Salt Dip' painting, we don’t know when, but it feels like he was having a lot of fun. I see the color purple in all these different views of the bowl. It makes me think about what it must have been like for him, looking at this ordinary object and thinking, 'I'm going to paint it, but not just once, I’m going to paint it three times from different angles.' The way he's repeated the shapes, it's almost like he’s turning the object over in his mind. And the color, that deep, rich purple, it's got a real energy to it. It makes me think about how one artist inspires another, and how that inspiration just keeps bouncing around through time. It's like we're all having this big conversation, and each painting is just one little thought in the middle of it.