Anna 2022

Nick Alm made this watercolor painting of Anna. The overall wash of diluted pigment gives it a slightly haunted feeling—the light is muted and the colors are subdued. I imagine Alm carefully planning the composition, maybe with a sketch first. Then he might begin with a light wash, letting the colors blend and bleed into each other. The tree, looming large in the background, looks solid and stable, while the snow and sky are more ephemeral. I wonder if Alm was thinking about the contrast between the earthly and the ethereal? Anna herself seems lost in thought, her face turned away from us, so the shadow cast upon the tree reminds us of our own transient condition. Painters are always in conversation with each other, borrowing and building upon ideas. This piece echoes the quiet introspection of artists like Vilhelm Hammershøi. Like them, Alm uses a muted palette and subtle details to create a mood of quiet contemplation. And, like them, he makes us stop and think about the fleeting nature of existence.