Summer Porch at Mr. and Mrs. C.E.S. Wood's 1904

Childe Hassam made this painting of a summer porch with oil paint, and look at all those yellows and greens! It’s like the whole scene is lit from within, shimmering with light and air. I can almost feel Hassam standing there, squinting in the sun, trying to capture the way the light bounces off the leaves and the polished surface of the table. I bet he mixed those colors right there on the canvas, building up the surface with all those tiny little strokes. See how the green foliage is alive with movement, like it’s breathing? And the way the light hits the table, turning it into a pool of liquid gold? You know, Bonnard did similar things with light. It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? About the nature of seeing, and how painting can be a way of thinking through the world, one brushstroke at a time. It reminds me that we're all just trying to figure things out, one painting, one moment, one breath at a time.