Mirror Lake 1929

Franklin Carmichael made this painting, Mirror Lake, with a brushy technique and a palette of earthy blues, purples, and greens. It's all about seeing how mark-making becomes a kind of translation of the landscape. Carmichael really gets into the physicality of paint; the textures aren't overly thick, but you can see how he builds up the layers. The way the paint sits on the surface gives the mountains and trees a velvety quality. The reflections create a sort of mirror image, but they're not exact, and that's where the painting comes alive. Look at the lower part of the painting, at the small patch of red and pink, it almost feels like a wound in the landscape. Carmichael’s work reminds me a little bit of Marsden Hartley, an American modernist who also had this intense connection to nature. Both show how art can be a conversation across time, always open to new interpretations.