Blue Bonnets at Late Afternoon 1915

This painting of Blue Bonnets was made by Robert Julian Onderdonk, who was alive at the turn of the century. The colors in this piece are really soft, there’s a dreamlike quality to the scene. It feels like a memory, or a wish. Looking at the paint itself, you can almost feel Onderdonk layering each stroke, building up the texture of those flowers. The paint’s not too thick, but it's not thin, it’s just right, like he's coaxing the image out of the canvas. See how the blues melt into greens and purples? It's like he's not just painting what he sees, but what he feels. I keep coming back to the lower left corner, where you can see the green cactus amongst the bluebonnets. It reminds me a little bit of Monet's garden paintings, in the way that it captures a fleeting moment in time. It leaves you with a sense of wonder, like you've stumbled upon something truly beautiful, but can't quite put your finger on why.