Campo Santa Maria Formosa, Venice 1912

Maurice Prendergast made this watercolor, Campo Santa Maria Formosa, Venice, likely in the early 20th century. The way he’s laid down the paint, it feels less like representation and more like a process. Like he's thinking through the act of painting itself. Look at the crowd, a sea of blues, whites, and reds, all blobby and indistinct. It’s as if he’s suggesting the feeling of being in a crowd, rather than trying to depict each individual person. And the sky! What a riot of blues and whites, dashed off in these choppy, expressive strokes. The texture of the paper peeks through in places, which is nice. It reminds you that this is, after all, just paint on paper, an illusion. Prendergast reminds me a bit of Bonnard, in that they both seem interested in capturing a certain fleeting impression, a sensory overload, rather than striving for photorealism. It's a painting that favors feeling over fact, leaving plenty of room for interpretation.