Yliaster 1932

Marsden Hartley made this painting, titled Yliaster, with oil on board, and what strikes me is the way he’s pushed the landscape into something almost otherworldly with those colours. There is a real feel for the materiality of paint here; the way the brushstrokes follow the forms of the mountains, and the way he’s used colour to create depth and shadow is really fascinating. Look at the pool in the foreground. The concentric ripples around it create a sense of movement, contrasting the geometric shapes of the surrounding landscape. It's like the whole painting is built out of simplified shapes. Hartley was always searching, spiritually and artistically. I'm reminded a little of Georgia O'Keefe's landscapes. They both find a unique language to depict the American landscape, turning it into something deeply personal and symbolic. And, like O’Keefe, Hartley reminds us that paintings don’t have to be literal. It’s more like an invitation to dream.