Bomen aan de waterkant 1915

Pieter Ras made this quiet watercolour, "Bomen aan de waterkant", a long time ago, we don't know exactly when. Imagine him outside by the water's edge, squinting in the light, trying to capture those trees. It is the kind of painting that emerges bit by bit, through intuition. He must have loved painting outside. The colours! Look at all those greys... not just grey, but silvery, mossy, misty grey, shimmering on the water. The brushstrokes build up the scene with a kind of gentle, persistent touch, like the lapping of water against the bank. You can feel the air, the quietness. There's a touch of Corot in those feathery trees, and maybe a bit of Whistler in the muted palette. It is like all painters are in a long conversation across time, with each other, learning from each other, seeing the world anew.