Hunter Museum of American Art

Analysis

Critics called Oscar Bluemner the "vermillionaire" because of his use of that intense scarlet hue as seen in the path in the center of this painting. He used brilliant color and simplified, geometric shapes to shave away the details of reality and seek the essence of the scene before him. For Bluemner, deep saturated color added an element of emotion to his works. He noted in his diaries that:

"Red is the color, the chief color and also the maximum of everything artistic; the strongest attraction, the signal, the warning, the symbol of power, vitality, energy, life. Fire, blood, ball of the sun, passion, struggle, majesty . . . Excitement to rage. Advancing.

Green the opposite of red. Repose. . . Middle ground.

Blue. Coolness, Distance, Space, receding Passive. Opposed to Red. Cheerfulness to depression."