When Sioux and Blackfoot Meet 1904

Charles M. Russell made this painting of a clash of cultures with thin washes of color. I can almost feel him working, trying to capture the energy of the moment with quick strokes. I imagine Russell thinking a lot about movement while making this work. The horses and their riders are caught in full tilt. It makes me think about Muybridge's motion studies, which tried to capture the movement of horses too. Here though, Russell’s using paint and surface to do something different. It's not a photograph. Instead he paints the heat of battle, the desperation, the kind of raw energy that only comes from danger. The whole thing is kind of washed in an almost dreamlike light. It's like the whole scene might disappear at any minute. That’s what good painting does – it makes the invisible visible.