On Alachua Lake

I chose to describe and analyze On Alachua Lake. This depicts Florida by Herman Herzog, which was created in the year 1890 and is currently being displayed at the Samuel P. Harn Museum in Gainesville Fl. I was unable to visit the museum as I had wished, instead I analyzed the painting via our class Canvas Page. His work is so detailed and drawn out that it makes his paintings explode instantly. You can create a million different scenarios based off a single painting.

Underneath the dark grey skies with a small portion of sun spilling out from the left corner; sit two women and a dog inside a boat on a lake. One of the women is rowing while the other grabs the dog. Surrounding the lake are wetlands, blotches of grass and trees that are covered in greyish-black moss. The painting looks gloomy as if a storm is about to hit home. He used dark bold colors like black, green, and brown for the lake, trees and the boat.

The women's faces look like they are in desperation and frustration, trying to fetch supper before the storm or hurry home after catching it. The painting doesn’t make me feel a certain way, it just caught my attention after seeing how he has the women looking like they are in a hurry before the storm. The storm-like clouds are slowly hiding the sun.

I think that Herman is trying to express that women in poverty back in those times had to fetch their own food, and that life can be a struggle but you still have to keep providing.