In der Petite Chaumière, Monmartre (In the Little Cottage, Montmartre) 1924

George Grosz made this watercolor on paper, In the Little Cottage, Montmartre, and the mood is definitely louche! It’s all soft washes of color and brittle lines, like Grosz was feeling his way through a smoky room, trying to grab onto something solid. I can imagine him there, in the Parisian night, trying to capture the energy of these figures. Are they dissolute or just trying to have a good time? Is he skewering them, or himself? He picks out the telling details; a jutting nose, the set of a jaw. It's like he’s inviting us to complete the picture, to fill in the story. Grosz was definitely looking at other artists, like Toulouse-Lautrec, but he’s doing his own thing, bringing a fierce German eye to the Parisian demimonde. It’s a reminder that artists are always in conversation, riffing off each other, pushing and pulling. And that a work of art is never really finished, it keeps changing as we look at it, as we bring our own experiences to the table.