John Marin’s aim was to capture the light and movement in nature, casting them in a cohesive structure, spatially defined by fresh and sparkling colors. His glimpses of the Maine coast and Manhattan skyscrapers seem to explode, bursting with restless energy. A painting of characteristic vitality, Grey Ledges rocks with the nervous force of a choppy ocean. Marin appears to have painted with a frenzy that matched the tumult he saw before him. Primarily a watercolorist until his later years, Marin’s spontaneity and feeling for texture seemed well suited to that medium. But in the end, oil paint was no less an expressive vehicle for his empathic union with nature.