Garden on the Beach 1990

Maria Bozoky made this small watercolor, Garden on the Beach, and it's like a memory, fleeting and bright. The paint is washy, thin in places, so the white of the paper pops through, especially in the furniture around the table. I love how Bozoky layers the greens and yellows, creating this breezy sense of a garden, and there are quick, confident strokes throughout, like she’s capturing a feeling more than a scene. Look at how she’s defined the leaves of the potted plant. It’s like she’s saying, ‘Here’s the essence of leafiness, don’t need to get bogged down in the details!’ That looseness reminds me of Bonnard, who also captured the everyday with this dreamy haziness. Both seem to say that life is messy, blurry, and wonderful exactly because of that. Art isn’t about perfection, it’s about embracing the moment, with all its imperfections.