Painted in East Gloucester, Massachusetts, John Twachtman's Harbor View Hotel depicts the coastal town's famous resort. Twachtman, however, ignored tourist life in this canvas, preferring instead to use the site for an ethereal image verging on the abstract. Twachtman's poetic vision adds a modern twist to the tonal harmonies of American artists such as George Inness. The square canvas and absence of figures enhance its two-dimensional and non-narrative qualities. The sketchy, delicate paint handling makes the work seem incomplete, as seen in the spare treatment of the causeway at the lower left. Although it appears like raw canvas, Twachtman applied an extremely thin layer of grey paint to the area, adding compositional balance for the shadowy structures in the background.
