The Cliffs 1921

Thomas Hart Benton made "The Cliffs" as an oil on canvas. Look at the way he builds up these robust forms – they’re almost cartoonish, but grounded in the real, tactile world. It's like he’s wrestling with the paint, trying to pin down something solid and permanent. The texture here is amazing. It's not about smooth blending; it's about the juicy, almost edible quality of the paint itself. See the way he models the light on those cliffs? It’s thick, almost sculptural, and the colors are earthy but vibrant. There's a tension between the solidity of the cliffs and the fluidity of the water, a back-and-forth that gives the painting its energy. The physicality of the medium really shapes our experience, makes it feel like we could reach out and touch it. Benton reminds me a bit of Marsden Hartley, another American artist who wasn’t afraid to get down and dirty with the paint. Like Hartley, Benton embraces ambiguity and multiple interpretations. He invites us to bring our own experiences and emotions to the table, to engage in a dialogue with the artwork.