Help finding a painting?

Cafe Society
1

We were talking last night about Things You Can’t Find on Google. This would be like searching for a tune where the song doesn’t have any words and paintings from a vague description.

The painting I’m thinking of features a house on a cliff, overlooking a beach. There’s a yellow light shining out of (IIRC) one of the windows. The sun has set and there’s only a thin strip of red on the horizon. The sky is a deep cobalt, with a few stars.

I saw this many years ago, and don’t even remember exactly what style it’s in. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it’s by Henri Rousseau, Maxfield Parrish, or even Vincent Van Gogh (yeah, I know), although I’m not seeing it for any of these artists.

Anyhow, if anybody’s got any ideas, lemme know… this is bugging me now.

2

Or Kincaid. :smiley:

This may not be much help, but try browsing through this site and see if it pops up.

3

Not Edward Hopper, by any chance? That’s the first thing your description reminds me of.

4

Also, do you remember what context you saw this in? A book, poster, or museum?

5

God, I hope not. :stuck_out_tongue:

Hopper? Possibly. Good suggestion.

The fact is, I encountered this painting only once. It was in a book that my first grade teacher was showing us. I think. That being 26 years ago, I can’t give you a whole lot of information about context or why she was showing it to us.

Then I forgot about it for a while.

This is going to sound a little weird, but I began thinking about this work about 20 years ago, when I had a dream about it. After talking about it last night, I’ve felt that I can somehow track it down and wrap this thing up.

It’s like trying to work out the name of a song that’s been stuck in your head for 20 years, and only over the last day or two you realize it’s been bugging you and you might be able to get this fixed. My first grade teacher is now long dead, so I can’t ask her. The only hope’s in the dope, so I thank y’all for your help…

6

Could it possibly be this?

7

It’s not possibly a Wyeth? Monhegan, Maine’s Wyeth House sits on a cliff, and was painted by it’s owner, Jamie Wyeth (son of Andrew) many times. Not sure if it fits in the timeframe, though…

8

Go here
to see a phot of the house.

Look familiar?

9

If it wasn’t for the fact that you said the painting was 20 years old, I’d say this was it - well, not quite, but it looks like I picture it, only without the red on the horizon, or the vivid colours.

So, are we any closer?

10

Well, it does say it’s “new work,” but I don’t see a date. If it weren’t for that, I’d say we have a winner - differs from some of the particulars I remember, but the mind’s eye is not a digital camera.

I think I’ll pay a visit to Monhegan next summer… would be a nice road trip.

No, but thanks for the link… that is one painting that has enriched the world far more than the one I’m thinking of.

Thanks for all of yer help and for looking around, folks.

11

Maxfield Parrish did quite a bit of the cobalt blue sky thing referenced, and he did it with houses too. Here are some of them.