Fountain at Bologna 1906

John Singer Sargent made this painting of a fountain in Bologna with oil on canvas. Can’t you just imagine him there, in the piazza, squinting in the sun? The scene shimmers with strokes of burnt umber, ochre, and creamy white. Look how the thick paint conjures the cool spray of the fountain, the play of light on the stonework. Sargent has an eye for capturing the essence of a place with just a few deft strokes, but it’s more than just a postcard. You get the sense that he’s not just painting what he sees, but what he feels. Think of artists like Sargent and the legacy he created. His brushstrokes are like echoes of Velázquez, and premonitions of abstract expressionists like de Kooning. Every artist is in conversation with those who came before, building on their ideas, pushing the boundaries. It’s a constant exchange, a dance across time, with painting being such a direct, material, way of thinking. And in the end, all we can really hope for is to add our own little mark to the conversation.