Bathers 1915

This watercolour called "Bathers" was created by Maurice Prendergast, and when I look at it I imagine it was made outdoors. I picture the sun shining on the paper, and that the whole thing came about because the artist just couldn't resist the scene in front of him. I imagine Prendergast looking at the scene, the figures, the sky and foliage all reflected in the rippling water. He squints and thinks about how Cézanne would paint it – the colours and simplified shapes, the blocks of tone. He's looking and thinking about how the light hits the water, how the figures connect with one another and how to capture that feeling of being carefree and alive. I love the way he’s let the colours bleed into one another, embracing the fluidity of the watercolour, allowing the unexpected to emerge on the page. It's a reminder that art isn't about precision, it's about feeling, intuition, and the joy of making something new. This reminds me of what Bonnard once said about painting not life, but making life more alive.