Rose and Locust Stump
This conversation is connected to Rose and Locust Stump.
A large dark olive-brown mass dominates the center — the locust stump — surrounded by interlocking forms of cobalt blue, tan, dark red, light blue, and a pink octagonal shape with a white center at the lower right — the rose. A white eye-shaped form with a brown center sits at the upper left, and bands of blue and dark red cross the upper portion. The composition is dense and compressed, with the forms fitting together like a puzzle. The colors are rich and earthy, with the pink rose and cobalt blue providing the brightest accents against the dark ground. Dove was painting what he saw around his home: first the houseboat, then the farm in Geneva, then the former post office on Long Island Sound , and abstracting it into flat, interlocking color.