Schwaben Redoubt 1917

William Orpen made "Schwaben Redoubt" with paint, and it looks like he was really thinking about the stuff itself. The colors are muted and the marks are like breaths. It’s funny how paint can trick you. At first, you might see snow, but look closer. Orpen isn't just painting what he sees, but what he feels. See how the surface has these gentle lumps and drags? The paint is pretty thin, but it sits on the canvas like frost. It almost feels like you could reach out and brush the stuff away, it’s so delicate. I keep coming back to the little strokes of lavender and rose in the foreground, they make the scene shimmer and melt. This piece reminds me a little of Whistler. He was always trying to capture a mood, and not a literal picture. Orpen’s painting does something similar, it takes you to a place that's both real and totally dreamlike.