Summer at Cos Cob 1902

Childe Hassam made this summer scene most likely with oil on canvas. He looks like he’s really laying down the brushstrokes! I love that Hassam isn't trying to hide the way the paint moves, or the direction he applies the color. There are so many blues and greens that overlap and it is beautiful. You can see how much blue he is using for the sky, and that beautiful pale blue on the side of the veranda, it's like he’s saying: this is how light and shadow work. It's like he’s telling a secret. Hassam reminds me of Berthe Morisot, another Impressionist with a talent for rendering the everyday world as something extraordinary and timeless. Art is one big conversation, don't you think? The important thing is to see something new.