Cliff at Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard

These clay cliffs rise along the western edge of Martha's Vineyard, at a spot called Gay Head, now known as Aquinnah. The place is famous for exactly what Arthur Wesley Dow painted here: bands of red, orange, tan, and gray earth that streak down toward a pale beach and a wide stretch of sea. The colors are real, not exaggerated. Those cliffs have been eroding for thousands of years, revealing layers of clay that shift in tone as the light changes through the day.

Dow was an American painter and teacher who spent years studying Japanese prints, and you can see that influence in how he simplified the scene into flat shapes and clear zones of color. The sea and sky blend into one hazy horizon, the small building on the far ridge sits like a single dark note, and the cliff face becomes almost a pattern of warm and cool patches. Dow believed a painting worked best when its shapes and colors were arranged well, and he taught that idea to a whole generation of students, including the young Georgia O'Keeffe. This modest coastal view is really an example of those principles put into practice.