[6][7] Arthur Dove grew up loving the outdoors on a farm; however, his father was a very successful businessman who owned a brickyard (along with city real estate) and expected his son to become wealthy.

[8] Dove's childhood interests included playing the piano, painting lessons, and pitching on a high school baseball team.

[8] As a child, he was befriended by a neighbor, Newton Weatherby, a naturalist who took him along on hunting, fishing, and camping excursions[9] conducive to Dove's appreciation of nature.

[1] Dove's parents were upset at his choice to become an artist instead of a more profitable profession that his Ivy League degree would have enabled, and they would prove unsympathetic to the difficulties that came with a career in art.

[6] While there, Dove joined a group of experimental artists from the United States, which included Alfred Henry Maurer.

While in Europe, Dove was introduced to new painting styles, in particular the Fauvist works of Henri Matisse, and he exhibited at the annual Autumn Salon in 1908 and 1909.

[6] His return to commercial illustration was unsatisfying, so Dove moved out of New York to make a living off farming and fishing while devoting the rest of his time to painting.

[6] Stieglitz was a well known photographer and gallery owner who was very active in promoting modern art in America, including works by European artists that had never been seen before in the U.S.[6] Dove decided to quit working as an illustrator but was in need of artistic identity along with emotional bolstering and Stieglitz filled both these roles.

[6] They found their common ground in the idea that art forms should embody modern spiritual values, not materialism and tradition.

[1] The show, which included a group of Dove's pastels that came to be known as "The Ten Commandments", was the first public exhibition of abstract art by an American.

[5] In spite of support from various members of the art community, it was often necessary for Dove to earn money through farming, fishing and commercial illustration.

[7] Dove spent seven years on a houseboat called Mona with Helen Torr, known as "Reds" for the fiery color of her hair.

[6] His work influenced later abstract landscape painters, such as Julian Hatton and Georgia O'Keeffe, in having "an unbridled love of pure, hot color.

"[16] In July 1924, when Arthur Dove and Helen Torr sailed into Huntington Harbor aboard their 42-foot yawl, Mona, they could not have anticipated the extent to which Long Island's North Shore would inspire some of their greatest paintings.

Wishing to return to Long Island, in 1938 the couple moved back into their first home, a former post office and general store on Center Shore Road in Centerport, New York.

Almost immediately, Dove was found to have pneumonia; he eventually suffered from a heart attack and was diagnosed with a debilitating kidney disorder.

In terrible health for the remainder of his days, he lived quietly, finally able to devote himself entirely to painting, and focus on the inspiration of his surroundings and his home.

[6] Although he became partially paralyzed by a stroke, he continued with Torr's help guiding the brush, painting until he collapsed and died at Huntington Hospital.

So many letters have been written and not mailed and owing to having been in bed a great deal of time this summer, the paintings were about all I could muster up enough energy to do what I considered the best of my ability.

[22] The Landmark Society of Western New York had previously announced that the historic Dove Block building was on its "Five to Revive for 2016.