Man met twee paarden voor een gebouw 1915

Adolf le Comte made this small, delicate watercolor of two horses and a man in 1911. I love how simple it is, just a few brushstrokes, yet so evocative. Imagine the artist, quickly capturing the scene with a few deft movements of the brush. I can almost feel the cool air and hear the horses shifting their weight, the quiet atmosphere of the street with its nondescript building. Look at the way the colors bleed into each other, the brown of one horse mingling with the gray of the other. The thinness of the paint creates a sense of transparency, as if the scene is emerging from the paper itself. It is a snapshot of everyday life, a fleeting moment preserved in paint and paper. It makes you wonder about the stories behind the image, the relationships between the man and the animals, the purpose of their visit to this place.