At the Wannsee 1934

Philipp Franck’s watercolor, ‘At the Wannsee’ captures boats at rest, their forms suggested with delicate washes. The whole thing feels incredibly immediate and ephemeral, like a quickly-seized moment. Look at how Franck uses the watery medium to its full potential; the blues bleed and blend, evoking the lake's reflective surface. The masts of the boats are these upright vertical strokes, repeated throughout the picture. They remind me of Agnes Martin's paintings, where the simplicity of the line becomes meditative. The reflections of the posts create these really animated squiggles in the water, full of life. There is a real sense of light and air, something also found in some of the watercolors of someone like John Singer Sargent. Yet, Franck's piece has its own quiet energy. It’s about capturing the essence of a place, a feeling, in the most direct way possible. It is a reminder that painting is as much about feeling as it is about seeing.