A North East Headland 1901

Childe Hassam made this landscape painting of a North East Headland with oil on canvas. Look at the brushstrokes, how they build up the forms of the rocks and the water. I can imagine Hassam standing right there, squinting at the light, trying to capture the exact shade of blue as the ocean meets the sky. The paint is applied in these delicious little dabs and dashes, like he’s trying to trap the light itself. It’s Impressionism, sure, but with a real American punch, right? I love how the whole scene shimmers. Hassam was part of a whole gang of painters thinking about light and atmosphere, like Monet. Painting, it’s like a conversation, a back-and-forth across time. One artist sees something, then another picks it up and runs with it. So much seeing! So much paint.