Corfu: Lights and Shadows 1909

John Singer Sargent made this watercolour, "Corfu: Lights and Shadows" with soft washes of colour, probably en plein air, directly from nature. Look at the way he renders the building's stark white walls, capturing the ephemeral dance of light and shadow with fluid brushstrokes and pale shades of blue, tan, and green. I can imagine Sargent squinting in the bright Mediterranean light, trying to capture the fleeting moment as sunlight dapples the scene, transforming the ordinary into something magical. The way he's built the scene out of layers and layers of translucent hues is masterful and free. It's as if the whole painting emerged in a burst of pure sensation. You can see him experimenting with light and how it falls on the building. And I'm sure he was thinking about the impressionists, as well as his contemporaries like Homer. There's an ongoing conversation between artists, where each painting builds upon the experiments of the past, even as it reaches for something new.