Lake Afternoon 1935

Arthur Dove made this, Lake Afternoon, sometime in his career, it's oil on canvas. The way Dove lays down the paint, it's like he's building up the image from simple shapes and colours. Look at how he uses this palette of earthy tones, oranges, blues and greens to create this landscape scene. It's all very simplified, flattened out and kinda playful. What I like is the way the colours kinda vibrate against each other, creating this sense of depth and movement, even though the forms themselves are relatively static. And check out the brushwork, it’s loose and expressive. You can see the hand of the artist at work, the way he layers the paint to create texture and form. I’m reminded of Marsden Hartley and his simplified landscapes. There’s a freedom of expression, an embrace of ambiguity, that’s really exciting.