Nature Rhythms 1950

Lawren Harris painted ‘Nature Rhythms’ with oils on canvas. Look at how he's applied that paint, those fluid, curving shapes layered one on top of another, like the earth building up over time, a process of accretion. The forms are simplified, almost abstract, but they suggest a landscape, maybe mountains, or dunes, something elemental. The color palette is restricted, mostly browns and tans, with these moments of pale blue, like glimpses of sky or water. It’s all very smooth, almost like he’s trying to hide his tracks, erase his hand. But then you notice the edges, where the colors meet, and you can see the delicate ridges of paint, the way one layer overlaps another. It gives the whole thing a subtle vibration, a sense of movement. Like, look at that small section on the left, where the pale blue meets the darker brown. It’s so subtle, but it’s what gives the piece its depth, its sense of space. Thinking about Agnes Martin, and her pared-down, almost meditative approach to abstraction, it feels like Harris is trying to capture something similar, a feeling of stillness, of transcendence, through the act of painting.