Alligators 1917

John Singer Sargent made this lovely painting of Alligators with watercolor on paper. I'm imagining him outside, squinting in the sunlight, trying to catch the light as it hits the scaly skin of these creatures. The washes of brown and blue suggest a kind of watery landscape. Look at the way the colors bleed and blend! It's as if Sargent is letting the water do some of the work. The paint is thin, almost transparent in places, which gives the whole image a sense of lightness and air. I really like the loose brushwork and the drips of paint. You can see how the artist is thinking, reacting, and making decisions in real-time. The painting feels immediate, like a snapshot of a fleeting moment. You get the sense that Sargent is part of a larger conversation about how to see and represent the world. We are all swimming in the same river of art, and this is his contribution.