Landschap met palmen 1886 - 1947

Pierre Jean Apol made this small watercolor, Landschap met palmen, in what looks like one or two goes. You can see him feeling his way around with blues, greens, and a sandy ochre, letting the paper breathe. I can imagine Apol standing right there, trying to get it down, this scene with the palm trees. He's really economizing, using just a few strokes to suggest forms, almost like shorthand. There’s something quite speedy and intense about it. See how he uses the vertical strokes of color to suggest depth, letting the whole thing resolve into a kind of pulsing, breathing place. It reminds me of other artists, like Emil Nolde or even Georgia O’Keefe, who were also trying to capture something essential about nature with these kinds of quick, intuitive marks. Artists are always in conversation, you know, riffing off each other across time. For me, it's a reminder that painting isn’t about perfect representation. It’s about feeling, thinking, and seeing in equal measure.