Mirage – Ships at Night

William Zorach and his wife, Marguerite, painted throughout the first two decades of the twentieth century, inspired by the work of the fauvists and cubists. In 1919 they traveled to Fresno, California, to visit Marguerite’s family. William had never been to California before and was overawed by the dramatic mountain and coastal scenes. Mirage doesn’t show an actual view but suggests instead Zorach’s fragmented impressions of “the inner reality of life around me.” The dark colors, empty windows, and glowing lantern create an eerie, dreamlike scene of sails on the horizon. (Hoffman, Marguerite and William Zorach: The Cubist Years, 1915-1918, 1987)