Martha Walter, Gossiping on the Beach

In this painting, Martha Walter memorializes the simple pleasures of a day at the beach. The soft, hazy light dissolves forms into the sand, sea, and sky. Women and children dressed in brightly colored clothes are absorbed in private conversation, their backs to the viewer. The women and umbrellas create a colorful and rhythmic arrangement that distinguishes them from the diffused light found in the sand and sky.