Charles Burchfield

Charles Burchfield was an American painter who filled his watercolors with a strange, personal sense of nature come alive. Born in Ohio in 1893, he worked mostly in watercolor on a large scale, painting the woods, weather, small towns, and changing seasons of the American Northeast. In his hands trees seem to quiver, sunlight throbs, and the sound of insects almost becomes visible.

He developed his own visual symbols to capture moods, memories, and even sounds, giving his landscapes a haunted, dreamlike energy. His work ranged from bleak scenes of industrial towns to ecstatic visions of nature. Burchfield's deeply original watercolors, unlike anyone else's, have earned him a special place in American art.