I made this trip with my family to the Hudson River School by New Britain Museum of American Art. I wanted to study some Hudson River School paintings in the museum’s permanent collection. Below are a series of photographs I captured showing various closeup details for several oil paintings. The closeup details are very informative, and by studying them, a person can start to appreciate and understand how the painting layers were constructed. The colors in these photographs are not modified from my digital camera, they may not represent the colors of the paintings hanging in the museum, but they are relatively close.

Hudson River School – “The Boating Party” by George Wellington Waters

Hudson River School – “Sunday Morning” by Asher Brown Durand

Hudson River School – “Scene Near Fishkill Hudson River” by Paul Weber

Hudson River School – “Ipwich Marshes” by Martin Johnson Heade

Hudson River School – “West Rock, New Haven” by Frederic Edwin Church

Hudson River School – “The Wilds of Lake Superior” by Thomas Moran

Hudson River School – “Midwinter Moonlight” by Francois Gignoux

Concluding Thoughts – Hudson River School by New Britain Museum of American Art

What a great exhibit of the Hudson River School by New Britain Museum of American Art. Seeing close-up of how master painters from history did their work is invaluable. In person, you can see each brush stroke, tell what the artist deliberately intended in one area, and see where some overpainting happened in another. Overpainting indicates the artists changed something they didn’t feel was right the first time they put down the paint. This visit was an education.