Palermo 19th-20th century

Curator: This is Denman Waldo Ross's "Palermo," a sunny scene rendered in oil paint, capturing the Italian city's landscape. Editor: Immediately, I feel this wonderful sense of faded grandeur, you know? The ochre and blues are so evocative, a kind of sun-drenched memory. Curator: Ross had a distinctive color theory practice; he built his work around balanced hues to achieve pictorial harmony. What draws me in is the composition, everything arranged to guide your eye. Editor: Right, that broken building, that shadowed mountain—they're almost like stage props. It’s interesting to think about how these images take on added resonance over time; Palermo itself, the idea of Italy... Curator: Absolutely, and the way Ross simplifies everything, almost abstracting the landscape, it turns it into a study of light and form, not just a postcard view. Editor: Yes, a distillation of a place, really. It’s like capturing the echo of a feeling, not just the thing itself. That's the power of symbols.