Houses with Red 1917

Charles Demuth made this watercolor called ‘Houses with Red’, and it's like he's building a little world right before your eyes. It's a very gentle construction, with floating geometric forms. The red in the house isn’t really red, it’s more like a blush. And the windows – they’re not just holes, they’re these dark, contemplative squares, like the house is lost in thought. I wonder what it would have been like for him? The soft, barely-there lines, the way shapes almost touch but don’t quite—he's playing with form and space. It is as if he is working out how to create a composition of simple shapes. But what I like is the way Demuth shows how painting can offer a unique way of seeing. It's all about the act of looking, questioning, and building up the image bit by bit. And maybe that's what art's all about, right?