Painted in 1925, Sunset is an important transitional work in Bluemner’s progression from the technically brilliant “100 Watercolors” to the spiritually charged “Sun and Moon” series of the late 1920s. The Painter’s Diary records the location as Walnut Street in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and the scene presents the suburban factory environment that was the backdrop of his early career efforts. Bluemner used such ordinary and unglamorous settings to represent the universal. In the “100 Watercolors,” he created works that are vibrantly hued, generally smaller in scale, and demonstrate his mastery and ambition for the watercolor medium—he aimed to make these works luminous and durable. When the first group from the series was exhibited in 1924 at J. B. Neumann’s gallery, Bluemner wrote to the dealer: “I think we should call the work ‘paintings’ not ‘watercolors.’ Because I am sure if they were in oil they would not look at all different.’” Sunset anticipates a new direction in Bluemner’s art in terms of subject matter as well. With a glowing red orb as focal point, Sunset provides an essential link to the exuberant “Sun and Moon” series that followed in works that represent a sense of hope and redemption after a period of much personal upheaval: “Back to the brilliancy and extacy [sic] of the living forms and colors of the clearest day and nature.”