The Occidental Prize · What is Rehumanism

Art that makes us more human.

Paintings made with real skill that give you back a piece of your own story. Here is the idea in a minute, what to paint now, and some examples.

The idea

What it is

Most of us can name a painting that stopped us, because it showed something we knew and had never seen said: a goodbye, a homecoming, a long marriage, friends on a summer afternoon. Rehumanism is simply our name for art like that.

It asks for two things: real skill, and something the painting gives the person in front of it. It isn't a style or a side in any debate, and the work doesn't have to look old.

A mosaic floor inlaid with the words Beauty, Truth, Love at the Occidental's entrance — Beauty, Truth, Love: the mosaic at the Occidental's door, in Pioneer Square.

Where we fit

We add to the prizes you already enter

There are excellent prizes for representational art, and we hope you keep entering them. The Occidental Prize adds one question: after craft, how does the work make the person in front of it feel? Work shown or entered elsewhere is welcome.

How work is evaluated

Couples with umbrellas cross a wide, wet Paris intersection under a grey sky — Gustave Caillebotte, *Paris Street; Rainy Day*, 1877. The Art Institute of Chicago. See it at the Art Institute of Chicago

Of our time

Paint the life around us, now

The old masters painted their own world: Caillebotte painted the new Paris the year it went up. Do the same with ours. A few ideas, as invitations rather than assignments:

Alone togetherThe crowded carriage is a feed: a full train car where nobody looks up.
Work, remadeThe hidden labor is a warehouse at 3 a.m., a delivery rider in the rain, a care aide on the night shift.
Leaving homeThe goodbye happens at an airport gate or a border, and carries on through a phone screen.
Ordinary heroesThe heroes rarely wear uniforms: the neighbor, the teacher, the firefighter, the caregiver who keeps showing up.
New shapes of familyThe family may be a stepdad, a grandmother or a single father; the teaching hand is the same.
Machines that thinkThe change is invisible: software remaking work, school and trust, and people learning to live beside it.

Examples

Made in our lifetime

Painters working today, in the lives we actually live. Examples of the spirit, not a style guide.

Chris Hopkins, Dancing on Daddy's Shoes, 2024 — **Chris Hopkins**, *Dancing on Daddy's Shoes*, 2024Fountainhead Gallery, SeattleA child balancing on her father's shoes, hands clasped: trust, in one gesture.LoveRead about it
About this work
Fountainhead Gallery, SeattleA child balancing on her father's shoes, hands clasped: trust, in one gesture.LoveRead about it

Daniel Sprick, Purgatory, recent — **Daniel Sprick**, *Purgatory*, recentPrivate collectionTwo weathered men in a gray winter light, painted as carefully as kings. Dignity, without sentiment.TruthAbout the artist
About this work
Private collectionTwo weathered men in a gray winter light, painted as carefully as kings. Dignity, without sentiment.TruthAbout the artist

Maria Kreyn, Alone Together, recent — **Maria Kreyn**, *Alone Together*, recentPrivate collectionTwo people pressed close in the dark, one hand raised: intimacy and need, painted with old-master light.LoveAbout the artist
About this work
Private collectionTwo people pressed close in the dark, one hand raised: intimacy and need, painted with old-master light.LoveAbout the artist

Jason Liekhus, The Catch, recent — **Jason Liekhus**, *The Catch*, recentCarnation, Washington, painterFishermen on a pier lean in over the day's catch: work and companionship, read in a glance.TruthSee more from the artist
About this work
Carnation, Washington, painterFishermen on a pier lean in over the day's catch: work and companionship, read in a glance.TruthSee more from the artist

Carla Louise Paine, A Father and Son, recent — **Carla Louise Paine**, *A Father and Son*, recentWashington State painterA father holding his sleeping child: protection and tenderness, read in a second.LoveSee more from the artist
About this work
Washington State painterA father holding his sleeping child: protection and tenderness, read in a second.LoveSee more from the artist

Lila Alexis Thomas, A Love Surrounded, 2026 — **Lila Alexis Thomas**, *A Love Surrounded*, 2026Seattle painterSix friends at a candlelit table, glances and smiles: belonging, painted now.BeautySee more from the artist
About this work
Seattle painterSix friends at a candlelit table, glances and smiles: belonging, painted now.BeautySee more from the artist

And the tradition behind them

Andrew Wyeth, Christina's World, 1948 — **Andrew Wyeth**, *Christina's World*, 1948Museum of Modern Art, New YorkA neighbor who could not walk, crossing a field on her own strength. Wyeth makes us feel her will, not pity.TruthSee it at MoMA
About this work
Museum of Modern Art, New YorkA neighbor who could not walk, crossing a field on her own strength. Wyeth makes us feel her will, not pity.TruthSee it at MoMA

Lucian Freud, Girl with a White Dog, 1950 to 1951 — **Lucian Freud**, *Girl with a White Dog*, 1950 to 1951Tate, LondonThe painter's young wife, guarded and exposed at once. A marriage in one look.TruthSee it at Tate
About this work
Tate, LondonThe painter's young wife, guarded and exposed at once. A marriage in one look.TruthSee it at Tate

Ilya Repin, Barge Haulers on the Volga, 1870 to 1873 — **Ilya Repin**, *Barge Haulers on the Volga*, 1870 to 1873State Russian Museum, Saint PetersburgEleven men dragging a barge, each one a distinct person. Labor with a face.TruthSee it at the Russian Museum
About this work
State Russian Museum, Saint PetersburgEleven men dragging a barge, each one a distinct person. Labor with a face.TruthSee it at the Russian Museum

The works shown here are examples chosen for commentary and education. We haven't sought permission for every image; in our judgment this is editorial fair use. If you have any concern about an image, please write to us and we'll gladly address it.

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What it is

It asks for two things: real skill, and something the painting gives the person in front of it. It isn't a style or a side in any debate, and the work doesn't have to look old.

Made in our lifetime

Painters working today, in the lives we actually live. Examples of the spirit, not a style guide.

And the tradition behind them

Explore Occidental

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Explore Occidental

My account

Art that makes us more human.

What it is

We add to the prizes you already enter

Paint the life around us, now

Made in our lifetime

And the tradition behind them

Paint something a stranger will carry home.

Art that makes us more human.

What it is

We add to the prizes you already enter

Paint the life around us, now

Made in our lifetime

And the tradition behind them

Paint something a stranger will carry home.