The White Bridge

John Henry Twachtman

c. 1895

Oil on canvas

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A white bridge spans a body of water, with trees and foliage on the banks. The scene is rendered with loose brushstrokes and a soft color palette. During the 1890s, John Henry Twachtman purchased a seventeen-acre farm near Greenwich, Connecticut. He set up his studio there and began to explore the land, seeking new subject matter. The white footbridge depicted here spanned a brook that ran through the property. Twachtman admired Japanese art. Here, the strong diagonal of the brook shows Japanese influence, as does the compressed pictorial space. The visual depth appears shallower than in real life, though we still perceive some objects as closer and others as farther off. The gilded frame, original to the picture, is widely believed to be a design by the celebrated architect S