The White Veil 1909

Willard Metcalf created this painting of a snow-covered landscape in the US, but the date is unknown. I imagine the painting coming into being slowly, stroke by stroke. A dusting of greys and greens suggest the distant trees and hills beyond, obscured by the titular white veil. The paint is applied thinly, and that flatness evokes the feeling of a cold winter’s day. The ground is built up from a subtle layering of whites and greys. I sympathize with Metcalf out there in the snow, painting this scene in plein air. Perhaps he was thinking about other painters who explored the landscape, like Courbet or Monet, finding new ways to capture nature's elusive qualities. Notice how the falling snow is rendered as a series of small white dashes. It's as if Metcalf tried to capture the very essence of a snowstorm, not just how it looks but how it feels. Painters are in an ongoing dialogue, aren’t they? Each artwork builds upon the ideas of the last, pushing painting to new places.