Venice 

Roger Fry created this watercolour painting, titled Venice, sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. Fry was a member of the Bloomsbury Group, a collective of English intellectuals whose liberal attitudes challenged the strict morals of Victorian society. As a painter and art critic, Fry advocated for art that explored personal and emotional expression. In Venice, he employs a light colour palette and fluid brushstrokes to capture the city’s architecture and waterways. Fry captures Venice with a sensitivity that is reminiscent of the works of J.M.W. Turner, whose paintings of Venice often evoke a sense of dreamlike reverie. The looser brushstrokes and simplified forms move away from traditional academic painting towards the Post-Impressionist style that Fry promoted. This style was radical for its time, as it shifted the focus from accurately representing the external world to conveying the artist's inner experience of it. Fry’s Venice invites us to consider the emotional and subjective dimensions of art. It encourages us to find new ways of seeing and feeling the world around us.