High Bridge at Night, New York City

Ernest Lawson

National Gallery of Art

A nearly square landscape with a bridge to our right and a person walking at the lower center is painted loosely in tones of pine, spruce, and sage green with a few touches of yellow, black, and brown. Along the bottom of the canvas, a walkway or road close to us leads back to blocky forms on either side of a gap, perhaps a staircase leading down or a walkway set below our level. Within that gap and shown from the thighs up on the far side of the dip, the person has light-toned skin and wears a dark coat and gray hat. They stoop as they walk to our left, facing that direction in profile. Three streetlights in this area glow yellow. A tree rises along the left side of the composition, and the bridge stretches from the right edge of the composition into the distance at the center of the painting. Tall arches hold up the high deck, which is lined with more streetlights. Touches of black paint could be people moving along the bridge. A low area beyond the person and under the bridge is hard to interpret. Painted with streaks of green, peanut brown, and cobalt blue, it could be water darkened by nighttime or a grassy expanse. Two tall, tower-like structures rise high above a few other buildings on the far side of the bridge. The sky is streaked with forest and turquoise green and topaz blue. The artist signed the lower right corner in red paint, “E. Lawson.”