"What impressed me was their dynamic power, against the light. It wa s
almost as if a struggle were taking place between the light from the sky, and
the black bulk of the houses, the light seeming to be a tangible force trying
to crowd the houses out of their space, and the houses resisting with all the
bulk they could muster."        Charles Burchfield, 1918 

"These things must be done in the most unacademic, unrealistic manner - It will take hard striving, for you have depended so long on working in front of an actual scene." Charles Burchfield.

"Burchfield was consciously preparing himself to pursue the methods that would lead to the expressionist and transcendental styles of his later paintings. He eventually would adopt Kandinsky's principle that 'the artist is not only entitled, but obliged to treat his forms in whatever way is necessary for his purpose.'

With Kandinsky, Burchfield also held music in high esteem as an equivalent to the visual arts. "Musical sound has direct access to the soul, wrote Kandinsky.reo Burchfield's journals reveal very little direct influence of other artist's works on his painting, but the monumental significance of natural sounds and music is clearly evident. His use of abstract motifs in his insect fantasies illustrates the principle of synesthesia, conveying one sense impression in terms of another. His patterns or visual conventions for natural sounds were stimulated by the sensation of hearing."

Nancy Weekly, Charles Burchfield: The Sacred Woods