Empire State Building View from Above the Highline

Empire State Building View from Above the Highline places one of New York’s most famous landmarks at the heart of a layered urban composition. Painted in oil on canvas, the piece begins with a lively arrangement of colour blocks, later refined to give the Empire State prominence among the dense rhythm of rooftops and windows. The palette blends earthy reds, warm ochres, and soft violets under a gentle pink-tinged sky.

The painting’s perspective tilts subtly, echoing the artist’s reinterpretation of her reference photo. This distortion gives the scene a dynamic, almost cinematic quality, allowing the building to rise above the surrounding forms in both scale and significance. Bisbee’s layering and decisive lines bring order to the visual complexity of the cityscape, transforming a busy vista into a celebration of New York’s vertical poetry.

Artist statement: This one ended up being more abstract. In the beginning of painting it, I got lost in the midst of all those buildings. I used a variety of colors to differentiate the structures. The next layer pulled it all together, tightening up those lines and corners. I distorted the composition of my reference photo to highlight the Empire State building, as seen from above the Highline at the Whitney Museum’s balcony in the Meatpacking District.