Summer Day 1939

Richard Sussman made this gouache painting, Summer Day, with watercolor and graphite on paper. Looking at the painting, you can almost feel the quiet warmth of the afternoon. I can imagine Sussman outside with his materials, layering washes of color to create a hazy, dreamlike scene. See the dog curled up under the tree? The colours feel soft, with muted greens, blues, and browns blending into each other. This builds a gentle atmosphere. The application feels kind of loose, like he’s not trying to be too precise but instead wants to capture the overall feeling of the place. There’s a balance between representation and abstraction. The houses and the truck are recognizable, but they're simplified into these basic shapes and colours. You can see the influence of artists like Milton Avery, who also aimed to find the poetry in the everyday. It reminds us that artists are constantly drawing from one another, riffing on the ideas that came before, and using paint to transform how we see and feel.