Venice, Santa Maria della Salute and Campanile di San Marco c. 1922

Carl Moll made this painting of Venice, Santa Maria della Salute and Campanile di San Marco with oil paint. The brushstrokes, especially in the water, are these confident, almost nonchalant flicks, and it's easy to get a sense of how he might have been working en plein air, trying to capture something fleeting. Looking closely, the paint is pretty thick in places, almost crusty, like he really wanted to build up the surface. It's cool to see how he uses these horizontal strokes in the water to give it this sense of movement, like it's shimmering and alive. Then, up above, in the buildings, the marks are more blocky and descriptive. It makes me think of other painters like Whistler, who were also trying to capture the mood and atmosphere of a place, but Moll's got this really confident, almost brash way of putting paint down that feels really modern. There's no right or wrong way to see it, it’s a conversation and Moll definitely has something to say.