Our River Hudson 1903

Arthur Bowen Davies made this painting, Our River Hudson, with oil on canvas, and what strikes me is its muted palette and dreamlike quality. Davies builds up a layered surface, but there's a looseness to his brushwork, a willingness to let the paint drift and blend. Look at the trees – they're not sharply defined, but rather suggested with soft, feathery strokes, like a memory or a fleeting impression. The colors are close in tone, mostly greens and grays, which creates a sense of atmosphere and distance. It feels like a hazy summer day, doesn't it? And then your eye meets the children playing games on the left, their forms are equally undefined, almost ghostly. Davies reminds me a little of someone like Corot, with his interest in light and atmosphere, but he brings a more personal, almost mystical sensibility to the landscape. Ultimately, the painting is more of a mood, a feeling, than a literal depiction of the Hudson.