Builders of Ships 1916

George Bellows painted "Builders of Ships" with oil on canvas, and you can almost smell the wood and salt air. Look how he's built up the surface with these confident strokes; it's like he's wrestling with the paint to bring this scene to life. It’s not just a painting, it’s a record of doing. I'm drawn to the way Bellows renders the sky – these thick, swirling blues and greys that seem to press down on the scene, giving it this intense, almost claustrophobic energy. And then there’s the boat itself, a skeleton of wooden beams against the sky, rendered in yellows and browns. Bellows reminds me of Courbet, and how he painted figures with such physicality and presence. Like them, the painting becomes a space for seeing, thinking, and feeling, all at once. The point is, there's no single right way to see this – or any – painting, and that's what makes it so exciting.