Style Imitating Art | Electric Peach Orchard by Arthur G. Dove 

The last artwork that Marsha chose led me to a serendipitous outfit that I had worn right before she announced the art inspiration. The same thing happened this time. As much as I enjoy a difficult style challenge, I always welcome the easy ones, too!

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge, and Marsha of Marsha in the Middle. Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday, one of the hosts, acting as presenter, selects an inspiration image that they will each post on their blogs. The following Monday, each host shares her art inspired outfit. Participants are invited to submit their art inspired outfits to the presenter by 10:00 p.m. EST on the Tuesday following the hosts’ art inspired outfit posts. The following day, Wednesday, the presenter will share all of the submissions on her blog.

You don’t have to be a blogger to join either! In fact, you don’t even have to join but you can still use the art to inspire an outfit just for the sake of trying something different. If you want to share your inspired outfit, we invite you do so on Instagram or any other social media platform that you prefer. Just be sure to tag Salazar, Shelbee, or Marsha or use #StyleImitatingArt so the hosts know you have joined. Go have some fun in your closets and join the SIA challenge next week!

This Week’s Presenter

Marsha chose this week’s artwork because she thought the color palette and the subject matter provided lovely sartorial inspiration for this time of year when the leaves are falling but the trees are still scantily clothed in foliage. 

The Artwork

Electric Peach Orchard by Arthur G. Dove

About the Artist: Arthur G. Dove

The first of two sons, Arthur Garfield Dove was born on August 2, 1880, in Canandaigua, New York, to wealthy parents of English descent, William George and Anna Elizabeth Dove. As someone with deep political interests, William Dove named his first born son after the 1880 Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates James Garfield and Chester Arthur.

Arthur enjoyed his outdoor experiences of childhood on a farm while also playing piano, taking painting lessons, and pitching for his school’s baseball team. His childhood friend and neighbor, Newton Weatherby, took him hunting, fishing, and camping which further solidified Arthur’s appreciation of nature. Weatherby was also an amateur painter and passed his leftover canvases to Arthur to practice his own art. Contradictory to Arthur’s artistic passions, his father was a very successful businessman, owning a brickyard as well as city real estate, and expected his son to choose a lucrative career to maintain the family’s status of wealth.

Attending both Hobart College and Cornell University, Arthur took elective art classes and was chosen to illustrate the Cornell University yearbook. Upon his graduation from Cornell in 1903, Arthur became a successful illustrator for Harper’s Magazine and The Saturday Evening Post in New York City. As he embarked on a career as an artist, Arthur’s parents were disappointed that he didn’t choose a more profitable career especially after attaining an Ivy League education. As a result, they remained unsympathetic to their son’s struggles as a career artist.

In 1907, Arthur and his first wife Florence traveled to France and eventually moved to Paris which was the art capital of the world at that time. While living in Europe, Arthur also traveled to Italy and Spain and joined a group of American experimental artists living in France. After being introduced to the Fauvist works of Henri Matisse, Dove began gaining a clearer sense of himself as an artist, exhibiting at the annual Autumn Salon in 1908 and 1909.

Shortly thereafter, he returned to New York but quickly became dissatisfied with his work as a commercial illustrator. So he left New York with the intention of earning his living through farming and fishing while devoting the rest of his time to painting. On July 4, 1909, his son William C. Dove was born.

After his return to New York from Europe, Dove met photographer and modern art promoter, Alfred Stieglitz, who became a main supporter of Arthur’s artistic works. With this support, Dove created the first purely abstract paintings by an American artist. Within two years, Dove was a leader in international artistic developments, exhibiting his works annually in Stieglitz’s galleries from 1912 through 1946.

Although Dove had continuous support within the art community, it was still necessary for him to earn additional wages through farming, fishing, and commercial illustrations. After 25 years of marriage, Arthur left his wife, who was not supportive of his passion for the arts. However, she refused to grant him a divorce and prohibited him from seeing his son. In July 1924, Dove left and lived on a houseboat for seven years with modernist painter Helen Torr. Life on their 42-foot houseboat, Mona, benefited Dove’s art tremendously, but his life with Helen was rather tumultuous.

When Florence died unexpectedly, Dove paid for her funeral expenses but did not attend her funeral. In the aftermath, he was able to marry Helen and also reunite with his then 19 year old son whom he hadn’t seen in eight years. His son, also an artist, helped his father to create a technique for silvering frames.

At the time of Florence’s death, Helen was still married to her first husband. Once she was divorced, she and Dove were married in April 1932 at the New York City Hall, using a dime store ring in the ceremony. In 1938, the couple moved back to their first house in Long Island, which was a converted post office and general store in Centerport, New York. Immediately after settling into their one room cottage, Dove was diagnosed with pneumonia and a kidney disorder, eventually suffering from a heart attack. His health never fully recovered and he lived the rest of his days in quiet devotion to painting.

In July 1946, Dove’s first grandchild, interactive artist Toni Dove, was born followed by the death of Stieglitz a month later. The loss of his friend badly shook Dove and he lived only four more months. After a stroke left him partially paralyzed, Dove continued painting with his wife’s help until he collapsed and died on November 23, 1946, in Huntingon Hospital, as a result of a second heart attack and kidney failure. He was 66 years old.

His wife Helen Torr died in 1967. In 1979, the works of both Torr and Dove were exhibited together in New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Their Long Island home, the Arthur Dove-Helen Torr Cottage, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. His granddaughter, now in her 70s, continues to actively produce her artwork in New York City.

About the Art: Electric Peach Orchard

Electric Peach Orchard was created in 1935 in Geneva, New York, where Dove had settled in 1933 to escape from New York City. “The painting reveals the artist’s attraction to the outward appearance of nature, as well as nature’s underlying mysteries, a theme that fascinated Dove throughout his life and became most visible in his art during the 1930s.” (Source)

Dove utilized a wax emulsion on canvas to create this painting which measures 20 1/4 x 28 in. (51.435 x 71.12 cm) with a frame size of 22 5/8 in x 30 1/2 in x 1 3/4 in (57.47 cm x 77.47 cm x 4.45 cm). Soon after the painting was completed in 1935, it was acquired by The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. where it is currently housed.

The Phillips Collection describes the work better than I can…

“Here Dove transforms a diagonal row of trees into a series of writhing forms whose branches are linked by agitated, tendril-like lines that are literal representations of electric currents. These lines, which extend from the sky into the trees, also signify an interaction between the land and the atmosphere, perhaps the trees’ absorption of light or moisture. Dove, who was familiar with theosophical ideas of the late 19th and early 20th centuries which emphasized creating visual equivalents for nature’s hidden energies, may also have been influenced by other mystical theories that suggested electricity was physical proof of a fourth dimension and an unseen spiritual world.”

Helpful Links:

• Wikipedia: Arthur Dove
• The Phillips Collection: Electric Peach Orchard

About My Outfit

As I mentioned in the beginning of the post, my sartorial interpretation of the artwork was once again serendipitous. I had worn this outfit twice during the week prior to seeing our art inspiration for this round. When I saw the color palette and abstract trees in the painting, my mind kept coming back to this outfit. It has all the right colors, an abstract earthy print, a botanical print, and a tree necklace. So I wore it again twice last week!

I layered a really old long sleeve tee shirt dress over a new pair of cream colored balloon pants. The drab brownish olive color of the dress and my newly thrifted cropped cardigan combined with the lighter ivory neutral of the trousers was the perfect color combination to reflect the hues used in the painting.

My accessories are also in drab neutral earthy tones with my tan suede combat boots and my olive green floppy felt hat. I added a brighter green scarf with a floral print and my green tree of life necklace to bring in some more natural elements. I also used a floral motif brooch to pin up my hat brim so it wouldn’t flop in my face so much. My ivory horn necklace, my rust colored Shelbee mala beads, and new ivory and gold earrings completed the outfit.

Not only did this outfit satisfy the style challenge, but it’s a seriously comfy fall outfit that I’ve been wearing on repeat. Honestly, over the last few weeks, I think I wore some version of this combination at least 5 or 6 times. I’m kind of loving the aesthetic of balloon pants with boots right now and have been keeping my summer genie trousers in rotation despite the cooling temperatures.

I hope you all have enjoyed this round of Style Imitating Art. Be sure to check out how Marsha and Salazar have styled their outfits inspired by this painting. If you want to play along and create your own art inspired outfit, please submit your photos to Marsha (mlrbanks57@gmail.com) by 10:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, and she will feature your outfit in her style gallery on Wednesday, November 4, 2026.

Until then, happy styling! 

Keeping it on the edge, 

Shelbee