The work of Walter Anderson is divided into three major periods, each relating to a particular place. Islands are truly the stuff of which legends, myths, and poetry are made.
Painters also feel the allure of the island.
Horn Island, one of the barrier islands located 10 miles from the Mississippi mainland, beguiled Walter Anderson. Horn Island engaged Anderson not only as an artist but also as a philosopher, poet, and naturalist, meeting his great need for solitude. Paradoxically, while he reveled in his seclusion, Anderson was not isolated from life. He spoke of Horn Island as a stage and he participated fully in the drama. In the extensive logs he kept while on Horn Island, Anderson wrote about what he saw, interpreting it for none other than himself and relating it to art, literature, philosophy, botany, and music.