Charles Burchfield

The Tall White Sun
1917

A stylized painting of a forest scene with tall, slender trees. The foreground features green grassy areas with darker green lines suggesting contours of the land. In the center, a tree with a large, sun-like bloom at its crown stands out, with rays emanating from the center. The background trees are depicted with less detail, in muted colors, creating a sense of depth. The sky is not visible, focusing the viewer's attention on the trees and the unique, radiant tree at the center.

A stylized painting of a forest scene with tall, slender trees. The foreground features green grassy areas with darker green lines suggesting contours of the land. In the center, a tree with a large, sun-like bloom at its crown stands out, with rays emanating from the center. The background trees are depicted with less detail, in muted colors, creating a sense of depth. The sky is not visible, focusing the viewer's attention on the trees and the unique, radiant tree at the center.

Not on view

Date
1917

Classification
Drawings

Medium
Watercolor, colored pencil, and graphite pencil on paper

Dimensions
Sheet: 22 × 18in. (55.9 × 45.7 cm)

Accession number
31.410

Credit line
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase

Rights and reproductions
Reproduced with permission from the Charles E. Burchfield Foundation and the Burchfield Penney Art Center.

API
artworks/825

Exhibitions

Where We Are: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1900–1960

Apr 28, 2017–June 2, 2019

Charles Burchfield
38 works in the collection

View artist