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Landscape, New Mexico by Marsden Hartley

Marsden Hartley · 1919-01-01

Marsden Hartley's "Landscape, New Mexico," painted in 1919 and held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, transforms the desert into a tactile experience through its bold use of paint.

Notice how the artist applies oil paint in thick, sculptural layers, a technique known as impasto. This gives the rocks a rugged, almost physical presence, and the gnarled tree branches appear tangible, as if carved from the canvas.

Hartley, an American Modernist painter, created this work after his travels through the American Southwest. His distinctive style, influenced by Cubist artists, allowed him to capture the raw essence and vastness of the New Mexico wilderness, making the paint itself an active participant in depicting the landscape's textures and forms.

What do you feel when you see the paint almost jump off the canvas?

Details

But look closely, he made the paint itself part of the story.
But look closely, he made the paint itself part of the story.
And the gnarled branches feel tangible, almost carved.
And the gnarled branches feel tangible, almost carved.
His bold brushstrokes make the landscape feel alive.
His bold brushstrokes make the landscape feel alive.
It's all about the physical presence of the paint.
It's all about the physical presence of the paint.
The soft, blended colors create a sense of atmospheric perspective and the vastness of the horizon.
The soft, blended colors create a sense of atmospheric perspective and the vastness of the horizon.
Transcript

This painter took the rugged New Mexico landscape, in 1919. But look closely, he made the paint itself part of the story. He built up the paint in thick layers, a technique called impasto. It gives the rocks a heavy, sculptural texture. And the gnarled branches feel tangible, almost carved. His bold brushstrokes make the landscape feel alive. It's all about the physical presence of the paint.