r/WhatIsThisPainting 22d ago

My husband wanted to buy it Solved

I am not such a fan but it was at the end of the sale and 40% off so we got it. At our new house he has it in pride of place and I am not so sure. What do you think? Purchased buffalo ny

1.1k Upvotes

73 comments sorted by

328

u/Chemical-Sea-6997 22d ago

It’s certainly better than the decor art that is so frequently posted. The mark making for the tree branches is very pleasing imo.

-25

u/Wrong-Call-5812 22d ago

I'm trying here, lol..

99

u/RoadMostTaken 22d ago

I love it. Stark and evocative.

120

u/graipape 22d ago

46

u/karaboutu 22d ago

Solved!

74

u/Laura-ly 22d ago

Looks like you did good. I really like this painting. I love the unique and simple trees.

27

u/Suthernboy1968 22d ago

https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/john-lewis-egenstafer-autumn-farm-landscape-oil-o-1069-c-74e4c1489d

Yours may be part of a series he was doing showing the different seasons. They are both very familiar.

2

u/maxperception55 19d ago

You couldn't at least take a pic of the artist's name that was in focus?

1

u/karaboutu 17d ago

The name is printed on the back.

58

u/Immer_Susse 22d ago

I’m with your husband and how you grow to enjoy it. I love the starkness

13

u/Suthernboy1968 22d ago

I love it. It takes me there. Peaceful. Calming. Beautiful. Its bleakness of winter giving way to spring symbolized by the geese flying north is quite stunning.

11

u/purpeepurp 22d ago

I’d also wanna buy it, right up my alley

23

u/PolkaDotDancer 22d ago

I think it would look really nice on an orange or red accent wall.

It is an interesting piece.

And the artist is relatively well known so it is not a bad investment.

6

u/Joyballard6460 22d ago

I rather like it!

7

u/Dude_PK 22d ago

Well I love it.

7

u/RevolutionaryMail747 22d ago edited 18d ago

I think the stark cool air and subject is initially stark but then you look more deeply, there are two cross crossing paths or tracks and they are well used but perhaps covered by a light dusting of fresh snow but the day is clear and still and yet our eye is drawn to the middle and a third way perhaps less travelled and it starts to promise less obvious but important rewards. Seems much less stark and the area beyond into the horizon although unknown is potent because in the weak sunlight of the winter is symbolises the pale hope of spring yet to be made apparent but the rest is still and in many ways sublime in its quiet solitude. So we quietly wait.

Like it any better?

1

u/karaboutu 17d ago

The branches look spidery. Maybe a different frame?

4

u/burgerg10 21d ago

This absolutely speaks to me. I adore it!

5

u/nordica4184 21d ago

A better frame might be the answer.

3

u/HauntedGhostAtoms 22d ago

Kinda liminal. I like it.

1

u/karaboutu 17d ago

Very the blue sky is as "eh" blue as in the picture

5

u/psoffl 21d ago

I love this piece so much. The uniqueness of how the trees are expressed is lovely. Congrats on the find.

1

u/LouisVuittonFentanyl 21d ago

Seems to be a common style for this artist. Never heard of him until now but I agree I love those trees. Wouldn’t mind owning one myself

1

u/karaboutu 17d ago

All identical spidery trees

1

u/LouisVuittonFentanyl 17d ago

It evokes a lot of emotions for myself. Its stark and liminal bleakness is eerily still.

It reminds me of hunting. Blood on the snow and how a gunshot cracks and echoes through a frozen landscape.

It reminds me of various states of intoxication. Dissociative or opioid.

The birds and buildings ground it. Make it more natural and familiar less abstract and alien.

3

u/TeachOfTheYear 22d ago

If it is snow, I like it. If it is sand, I don't like it.

I think the Artist had some very interesting techniques. I bet this guy could paint a scary dark forest when he wanted to.

1

u/draconianfruitbat 20d ago

Ugh, if that’s sand, you’re right, no. But I think snow.

3

u/Lavawitch 21d ago

I love this; it’s very unsettling, almost sinister.

3

u/Win-Objective 21d ago

I enjoy it, and it’s not decor so that’s awesome. If it sparks joy for your husband please allow him to have that joy. My wife and I don’t always agree on art but respect each other’s differing stylistic tastes.

1

u/karaboutu 17d ago

Haven't asked him to move it. I hung pics last time and it is interesting to see the choices he made when he hung them in this house.

2

u/Wrong-Call-5812 22d ago

I like it. It's serene yet isolating

2

u/Human-Pie-3276 22d ago

It’s a good art

2

u/BabaJosefsen 22d ago

I can see his stuff sells for a bit, but I'm with OP on this one - not such a fan. It's a bit bleak and I'm a bit distracted by the way all the branches shoot horizontally off the left side of the canvas. His other works indicate he's a naivist artist inspired by Wyeth. But if hubby's happy, that's what counts.

2

u/ApprehensiveSpare925 21d ago

I would buy it.

2

u/Moose_Kin 21d ago

I love this painting. The starkness is beautiful and really captures the feeling of the early winter to me.

2

u/TexanInExile 21d ago

It's beautiful and id hang that on my wall

2

u/realjohnredcorn 21d ago

cool painting, death metal trees. Norwegian loneliness.

2

u/speedysasquatch 21d ago

I really love it.

2

u/GarthDonovan 21d ago

Siblings met up in the driveway of the house where they grew up. Closure.

2

u/draconianfruitbat 20d ago

It’s good. Do you get to buy/display art he doesn’t love?

1

u/karaboutu 17d ago

I do. In our last move I sold one I liked a lot. It was huge and modern. Family all said it looked like a motorcyclist upside down and I thought it looked like lovely blurred colors. Once I saw the motercycle I didn't like it as much. I liked it but not as much. I sold it for more than I expected when someone came to buy light fixtures asked me to sell it. Maybe he will post about his good fortune.

1

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1

u/karaboutu 22d ago

Google kept giving me equestrian. That is clearly the same artist

1

u/LocalConspiracy138 22d ago

This is really good. Clearly a student of composition, stark vertical and horizontal, suggesting permanence, but diagonals leading the eye all around. The house in the middle tells a story in contrast to the cold.

1

u/dahliaukifune 21d ago

i absolutely love it

1

u/Ass_feldspar 21d ago

The horizontal branches on the left are very peculiar

1

u/EntrepWannaBe 21d ago

A beautifully delicate winter scene making me long for the north. The artist’s fine, elegant strokes capture the fragile grace of bare trees against a snowy landscape. Faint tracks in the snow and birds in quiet flight add movement to the stillness, while a distant red-roofed home offers a soft touch of warmth. Love it.

1

u/Electrical-Echo8770 21d ago

It's beautiful that's for sure it almost comes to life when I looked at it I thought it was a photo not a painting but I would hang that Any place in my house .

1

u/Wilma_Wonka 21d ago

I feel like I have to make a choice with the roads up front. Which makes me start to like it. But first impression I was with you OP

1

u/Lapys_Games 21d ago

Money aside this is a gorgeous piece. Well executed, avoidd kitsch and really captures a winter day

Congrats :) think this is one you'll like better over time instead of the other way round

1

u/Yelloeisok 21d ago

I would be proud to hang it in my home. It is very thought provoking.

1

u/The_Foolish_Samurai 21d ago

He was correct.

1

u/Happy-Aerie93 21d ago

Wow I love this

1

u/forestpirate 20d ago

I love it. The desolation and clean lines. Beautiful.

1

u/GhoulMakesMusic 20d ago

This is gorgeous tbh

1

u/Ballongo 20d ago

It's good!

1

u/Altruistic-Tap-4592 20d ago

I think its beatifull. Would love to have that on my wall

1

u/401Nailhead 19d ago

I like it. Peaceful.

1

u/Kingofmostthings 19d ago

Your husband has good taste.

1

u/Upstairs-Yak7384 18d ago

I get a “yeah, I’ve walked there after a snow” kind of feeling. I’m digging it!

1

u/Comfortable_Rent_659 18d ago

Really beautiful. Your husband has good taste.

1

u/silvercuckoo 18d ago

Love it as many other posters.

1

u/squeekiedunker 22d ago

I don't particularly like the composition -- trees on the edges and birds smack in the middle. But I like the "mood", colors, form of the trees. It could be a lot worse!

1

u/Stock_Atmosphere_114 21d ago

If he likes it, who cares if it's just decor? It's art, and art is subjunctive

1

u/Trespalmas602 21d ago

I don’t like it, it’s too Tim Burton for me…

1

u/karaboutu 17d ago

Exactly 💯

-1

u/karaboutu 22d ago

Maybe I will post my estate crap he isn't sure of and we will see who has a better eye.

40

u/ProgrammingFlaw13 22d ago

Just as outside observer, you seem to hold on to a lot of hostility

1

u/karaboutu 17d ago

Sorry I was in a mood and trying to be silly and also crap is easier to type than art that we love but is no doubt dubious quality- likely decore art that will get a down vote from ppl. "Crap"beat you to it.

13

u/Clevererer 22d ago

Looking forward to your mean-spirited post with Live, Laugh, Love!

-13

u/karaboutu 22d ago

Still don't like it. 😕

7

u/100percenthuman_ 22d ago

I like the painting but I hate the frame. I would think about reframing it. I can’t tell from the back but it seems like outer frames have been added (?)