The White Mists of Keel

The White Mists of Keel from 1929 is an oil painting depicting the village of Keel on the west coast of Ireland, where Kelly traveled to paint. The white mists of the title demonstrate Kelly's ability to capture atmospheric effects in oil as well as watercolor, and the Irish subject shows her extending the atmospheric landscape technique that she had developed in Provincetown to the very different landscape of the west of Ireland. The 1929 date places this in Kelly's most productive period, when she was traveling to paint the atmospheric landscapes that were her signature subject.

The White Mists of Keel is important in Kelly's development because it shows her extending the atmospheric landscape technique that she had developed in Provincetown to the very different landscape and climate of the west of Ireland. The painting demonstrates that Kelly's atmospheric approach was not limited to the specific effects of the Massachusetts coast but could be applied to the very different atmospheric conditions of the Irish coast, and the oil medium allows a different kind of atmospheric subtlety from her watercolors.

The White Mists of Keel is Kelly extending her atmospheric technique to Ireland: the village of Keel shrouded in white mist rendered in oil with the atmospheric subtlety she developed in Provincetown. The 1929 painting shows her atmospheric approach working in the very different climate of the west of Ireland.