Cat Boats, Newport 1901

Childe Hassam made this painting, Cat Boats, Newport, using oil paint. Look at how the colors melt and shift to define forms. Hassam uses vertical strokes to describe the boats’ masts, but the water is a wash of blues and pinks. There's a real push-pull between representation and abstraction. I can imagine him standing there, squinting in the sun, trying to capture the essence of the harbor. He's not just painting what he sees, but also what he feels. The way he blurs the line between the boats and the water, it's like he's saying that everything is connected, everything is in flux. I see echoes of Monet and the other Impressionists, but Hassam has his own thing going on. He's less about capturing the light and more about capturing a mood, a sense of place. It’s like an exchange of ideas, across time, inspiring each other’s creativity.