Rowe, Massachusetts 1918

John Marin made this watercolor painting of Rowe, Massachusetts, with watercolor on paper sometime in the early part of the 20th century. You can see how he’s using these transparent washes of paint, letting the white of the paper shine through. It gives the whole scene this light, airy quality, like a fleeting memory. Notice how the fields are rendered with these broad, diagonal strokes of purples, pinks and browns. There’s this rhythm to the marks, almost like the furrows in a plowed field. Then your eye is drawn to these pops of yellow and orange, maybe pumpkins or some other crop dotting the landscape. I’m reminded a little of Cézanne and his watercolors, how he built up form with layers of color. But Marin brings this distinctly American sensibility, a kind of rugged individualism, to his work. It's like he’s capturing not just the landscape, but also a feeling, a sense of place, and an openness to different interpretations.