Buck's Harbor 1910

Maurice Prendergast daubed this small oil on canvas with juicy strokes of blues, greens, oranges, and pinks, capturing a harbourside scene. I can just imagine him working en plein air, trying to capture the light, atmosphere, and social buzz of the harbour. I love the way Prendergast uses small, mosaic-like strokes of paint to build up the image, almost like he is knitting the whole picture together. The paint isn’t too thick, but the way the colours are layered creates a vibrant, shimmering surface. Look at the tree, it is not just green, but flecks of brown and yellow, which brings it to life. It’s like he's riffing on Impressionism but with a very personal twist. Prendergast was part of a generation who were asking questions about what painting could be, and this approach – the broken colour, the emphasis on surface – felt so new at the time. Artists like him are constantly teaching us different ways of seeing.