Santa Maria del Carmelo and Scuola Grande dei Carmini 1910

John Singer Sargent made Santa Maria del Carmelo and Scuola Grande dei Carmini with oil on canvas. It’s like he built this painting, stone by stone, with thick daubs of buttery paint, all tans, creams, and browns. I love to imagine Sargent standing there, squinting in the Venetian light, trying to capture not just the look but also the feel of this place. What was he thinking about, I wonder? What he’d have for dinner? Or maybe he was lost in the sheer pleasure of rendering that play of light and shadow across the ancient walls. See that shadow cutting across the ground? It’s not just a shadow. It’s a bold, confident stroke, a painterly decision that flattens the space and somehow makes it more real. Sargent was definitely in conversation with painters like Manet, who were pushing the boundaries of representation, embracing the materiality of paint itself. Painting is a continuous, ever-evolving conversation. Each brushstroke is a response to what came before and an invitation to what might come next. It's never fixed, and always open to interpretation.