Description: five fish on a table in foreground with dark walls on either side of center window showing sea and sky with puffy clouds; still life; water; food
Label Text: This enigmatic image contrasts interior and exterior worlds in a view through an open window. The "school" of fish, presented on the table almost as an offering, suggest Christian symbolism. They are shown just below the vista of the sea, their natural home, with a distant island on the horizon. Painted shortly before his death, Hartley's deceptively simple composition of a still life before a window is reminiscent of an altar; the vantage point evokes a sense of longing for what lies outside. At this time, Hartley was living in a fishing village in Core a, Maine, where he saw simplicity and spirituality in the natural surroundings and way of life.
Link to share this object record: https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1947.8.1 |