American Art Collaborative

"Being inexhaustible, life and nature are a constant stimulant for a creative mind." Hofmann, "The Color Problem in Pure Painting---Its Creative Origin," quoted in Yohe, ed., Hans Hofmann, 2002
The vibrant tones of yellow, red, and green in Afterglow resemble many of Hans Hofmann's early paintings of the landscape around Provincetown, Massachusetts. He opened his summer school there in 1934 and encouraged his students to paint images inspired by the area's colorful, light-filled beaches. Here, Hofmann used primary colors and dramatic dashes of paint to express the "spirit" of the coastal landscape at sunset. He described painting as magic, because the shapes and colors on the canvas were transformed into a "universe in action." (Hofmann, "The Search for the Real in the Visual Arts," quoted in Yohe, ed., Hans Hofmann, 2002