Barns 1926

A.Y. Jackson painted these barns with what seems like endless shades of brown and white. It’s kind of a tonalist trick, right? The surface of this painting has a great feel; it is not too fussy, not too overworked. It’s like he wanted to just let the paint sit on the canvas without pushing it around too much. And I love the way the snow sits on the roofs of the barns, how it’s just a little dollop of white paint. Looking at the rest of Jackson's work from the period, his landscapes have an interesting relationship to Symbolism, with artists like Edward Munch. There is something about the stillness in this painting that makes you feel like you're the only person for miles. Art's funny like that, isn't it? It can make you feel so many things at once.