The State House 1910

Lilla Cabot Perry made this painting of the State House with oil on canvas and the paint is applied with a kind of broken touch. She wasn’t trying to make a photograph. Instead, the painting feels like a collection of impressions, a response to the light and atmosphere of a particular place and time. Look at the way the branches of the trees crisscross the canvas, creating a kind of screen between us and the building behind. It’s like she is asking us to see the world in a new way, not as a collection of objects, but as a series of fleeting moments. The way Perry applied the paint feels very physical and direct, and makes me think of other painters like Camille Pissarro, who explored similar themes. What I love about art is that it is always open to interpretation, like an ongoing conversation.