Mountainous landscape with budding trees 1993

Edwin Austin Abbey made this landscape with watercolors, and you can almost feel him capturing a fleeting moment. I imagine him outdoors, trying to pin down the light as it shifts across the mountain and those budding trees. There's a real push and pull here between the solid forms and the ephemeral quality of light and atmosphere. Look how the washes of pale pink suggest the delicate blossoms, while the dark blues and grays give weight to the mountain. It reminds me of what Cezanne was up to around the same time, trying to get at the structure beneath the surface. The way Abbey uses the white of the paper is also really interesting. It's not just a background, but an active element in the composition. It’s like he's saying, "Here's what I see, but also here's what I don't—what's left to the imagination." That's what I love about painting—it's a conversation across time. We're all wrestling with the same questions: How do we capture the world around us? How do we make something that feels alive?