Opstilling med bøger, pibe og figur 1911

This is a watercolour still life with books, a pipe, and a small figure by J.A. Jerichau, painted sometime before 1916. The brushstrokes are broad and suggestive, more about capturing the light and shadows than defining exact forms. You can feel the wetness of the medium and the way the artist allowed the pigments to mingle and bleed into one another. What strikes me is the tabletop: its surface is rendered with flat, creamy strokes that don't quite describe its physical form, but instead create a sense of shifting planes. It's like Jerichau is more interested in the idea of a surface, than its actual appearance. This quality gives the whole painting a feeling of ephemerality, like a dream or a memory. It reminds me of Cezanne's still lifes. Both artists share a fascination with the materiality of paint and its ability to construct an alternate reality. Art's not about showing reality but about making one, right?