Mediteraneean Landscape 1932

Henri Catargi seems to have made this watercolor with sun and light. It’s like he’s feeling the Mediterranean heat, right? I imagine the painting coming into being like a dance, the artist adding a dab of peach here, a stroke of blue there, each mark responding to the last, a kind of call and response. The watercolor is thin, washy almost, giving it an airy, dreamlike quality. Look at that palm tree, how the leaves are suggested with just a few flicks of the brush. I know how hard that is to do! It’s like he’s trying to capture not just the look of the place but the feeling of being there, the languid pace of life, the warmth on your skin. This reminds me of other painters who were drawn to the Mediterranean light, like Matisse or even Cezanne. Artists are always looking at each other, borrowing ideas, and pushing them in new directions. For me, painting is a conversation across time, a way of engaging with the world through touch, color, and gesture. It embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations and meaning.