Lady Margaret Spicer 1906

John Singer Sargent painted Lady Margaret Spicer with oils on a large canvas and, just look at those gorgeous whites and creams, so expertly applied! I imagine Sargent, standing before his easel, squinting, mixing his pigments to capture just the right luminosity of her gown. You can almost feel the weight of the fabric, the way it drapes and folds around her. He has placed her just so, with a pillar as a foil to her slight leaning pose. She is there but not all there: she has a faraway thoughtful expression. She is not lost in thought, but is almost an apparition - she appears to be more of an evocation, as if emerging from a dream. Think about all the decisions Sargent made. How the brushstrokes build up the form, how the light catches the edges, how the colors vibrate against each other! He was in conversation with Velasquez and Manet and all the greats who came before him, but he’s also pushing painting forward, creating something entirely new. Painting is an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas. It is a way of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty.