Corfu; Cypresses 1909

John Singer Sargent made "Corfu; Cypresses" with watercolor on paper. Imagine him standing there, probably en plein air, trying to capture the way the light filters through these slender trees! I can feel him experimenting with the fluidity of the medium; each stroke seems spontaneous, but also carefully considered. Look at how he used blues and greens to create a sense of depth and atmosphere. The paint is thin here, allowing the white of the paper to shine through, giving the work luminosity. These vertical marks of the cypresses against the horizontal of the sea, remind me of Cezanne. Sargent would’ve known his work, so it is interesting to imagine them in conversation across time, both trying to capture the essence of a place through paint. Painting offers a way of seeing, feeling, and experiencing the world. Sargent invites us to slow down and appreciate a fleeting moment of beauty.