A Quiet Poem of Light En Plein Air: Jim Butler and “The New England Paintings” at Buchmann Galerie Berlin

There is a fragile and fascinating balance between observing nature directly and passing it through the filter of memory to transfer it onto canvas. American painter Jim Butler draws us into this serene balance with his intimately scaled canvases produced open-air (en plein air) over the past five years in the Northern New England region where he was born and raised. Meeting the audience at Buchmann Galerie as part of Berlin Art Week between September 11 and October 31, 2026, the exhibition “The New England Paintings” makes visible that long-standing, quiet dialogue the artist establishes with light, color, and atmosphere.

Nearly a dozen works brought together in the exhibition embrace riverbanks, wooded areas, small boats, and the subtle traces left on the surface by seasonal transitions. The high attentiveness and sensitivity we feel in canvases like Muddy Inlet, Magnolia, or Two Cherries move beyond ordinary landscape painting to reveal that simple beauty overlooked within the rhythm of daily life. While capturing the fleeting vibration of light and air in layers shaped with fine touches, Butler transforms the silence of rivers, plants, or a modest room into a timeless remembrance.

Narrating that deep, time-filtered bond between human and nature unhurriedly through the tranquility of brushstrokes, these paintings present an open invitation to slow down the act of looking and gaze upon the world around us with a brand-new attentiveness. Making a naive yet equally powerful touch on the Berlin art season with its opening on the evening of Thursday, September 10, the exhibition promises a peaceful oasis for every art lover wishing to pause and catch their breath amidst the fast-paced gallery marathon in the city this September.