Man met twee paarden voor een gebouw 1915

Adolf le Comte made this watercolour, 'Man met twee paarden voor een gebouw', or 'Man with two horses in front of a building', using delicate washes and fine lines, sometime around 1911. The translucence of the watercolour allows the paper to breathe, giving the scene a breezy, almost ghostly quality. See how the brown wash of the left horse bleeds into the page, creating a soft, undefined edge. Then notice the sparse linework outlining the building behind, it's barely there. These choices make the building feel less solid, more like a fleeting impression. I am reminded of the work of Eugène Delacroix, particularly his sketches of horses. Both artists capture the animal's energy and form with a kind of shorthand, relying on expressive lines and tonal washes rather than meticulous detail. Like Delacroix, Le Comte is interested in capturing a feeling, a moment, rather than providing a literal representation. It's all about that beautiful ambiguity, isn't it?