Rain on the River 1908

George Bellows made this atmospheric painting, probably in oil, with a wet-on-wet technique that gives it this incredible feeling of a damp day. You can sense how quickly the painting was made, the speed of the marks and the blending of colors. It's all about process here, about capturing a fleeting moment. Look at the way Bellows handles the rocks in the foreground. It's like he's building them up with these thick, juicy strokes of gray and brown, really sculptural. The paint is so tactile, you almost want to reach out and touch it. Then, contrast that with the more washed-out tones of the river and sky, where the paint is thinner and more transparent. That contrast helps to create a sense of depth and distance. See that little dab of gold on the riverbank? That small mark is so important to how we read the whole painting, it's a key! Bellows was part of the Ashcan School, a group of artists who loved to paint scenes of everyday life in New York City. His work reminds me of some of the paintings of John Sloan, another artist from that group. But in the end, Bellows has his own unique way of seeing and painting the world, a world that, like any good work of art, embraces ambiguity and invites us to bring our own experiences and interpretations to the table.