Welcome Spring!

In the Northern Hemisphere, spring officially begins at 8:31 A.M. today with the start of the vernal equinox.

Spring Dance by Arthur F. Mathews evokes the joy that the onset of spring so often brings—the fresh smelling breezes, an errant blossom petal falling to the ground, a daffodil unfurling with the slightest suggestion of warmth.…

After studying in Paris in the 1880s, Mathews moved to San Francisco, where he and his wife helped establish the California Arts and Crafts movement. Spring Dance reveals … Mathews's interest in flattening forms into decorative patterns that create a kind of jigsaw-puzzle effect. The ornamental rhythm of clouds, trees, grass, and dancers, painted with soft pastel tones, creates a lively movement of our eyes that in itself is a visual dance.

Source: Elizabeth Prelinger. The Gilded Age: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (New York and Washington, D.C.: Watson-Guptill Publications, in cooperation with the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2000).

Pictured: Arthur F. Mathews, 1860–1945, Spring Dance, about 1917, oil, 51 7/8 x 47 5/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David J. Carlson.