Movement: Boats and Objects, Blue Gray Sea

In late compositions such as Movement: Boats and Objects, Blue Gray Sea, John Marin used oil paint as thinly as he did watercolor, the medium for which he is best known. This work likely depicts the Maine coast, where Marin summered and painted throughout his career, exploring how best to express movement and spontaneity in paint. The artist practiced architecture before becoming a painter, and late in life he returned to three-dimensional design, creating painted frames that complement his pictures. Marin had a close relationship with Alfred Stieglitz, who supported him financially and critically from 1910 on and helped him become one of the most successful American Modernists.