Purtud, Alpine Scene and Boulders 1904

John Singer Sargent made this watercolor, Alpine Scene and Boulders, with paper and brush. The way the paint is laid down, it's like he's trying to capture the essence of the rocks, rather than just painting what he sees. You know, artmaking as a process, a kind of dance between the artist and the world. Looking at the texture, the surface, it's all about the physicality of the medium. See how thin and transparent the paint is? It lets the light bounce around, giving the rocks a sense of depth and luminosity. And the brushstrokes, they're so free and gestural. Like in that one area near the bottom, the way he flicked the brush, it's almost like he's trying to capture the rough, jagged edges of the rocks. It's loose, immediate. It reminds me a bit of Cézanne, especially his late watercolors. Both artists were interested in capturing the underlying structure of things, the geometry of nature. Of course, art is always an ongoing conversation, a back-and-forth between artists across time. And like any good conversation, it's full of ambiguity and multiple interpretations.