Looking Toward Isle Au Haut, Maine, from Deer Isle 1919

John Marin made this watercolor, “Looking Toward Isle Au Haut, Maine, from Deer Isle,” probably en plein air in 1919, layering washes and dry brushstrokes of greens, yellows, and purples. You can almost see him there with his paper propped up on a board, squinting, trying to capture the essence of the Maine landscape, those hazy greens and blues broken up by light. I bet he was chasing the light as the sun moved across the sky. I love how he suggests the trees with just a few swipes of the brush, a dark green outline with just enough yellow to make them pop, but not too much detail. He’s not trying to copy nature, but rather, he’s reinterpreting it, taking some liberties with the colors and shapes. It feels like a conversation between him and the landscape, a back-and-forth dance of observation and invention. This piece reminds me that artists are always in dialogue, riffing off each other’s ideas, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. Marin was part of a generation grappling with how to represent the modern world, and he found his answer in these fluid, energetic watercolors.