Vase c. 1938

Isidore Steinberg painted this vase on paper with watercolour, and it feels like he was really savouring the slow process. Look how the blue seeps into the paper, bleeding and blooming. I can imagine him, brush in hand, hovering over the page, unsure if he'll get it right. There's something so tender and vulnerable about painting, about trying to capture the essence of something so simple as a vase. I’m kind of obsessed with how the watery, translucent quality of watercolour gives this painting a soft, dreamlike vibe, like he’s capturing not just the vase but also the memory of it. The brushstrokes are delicate, almost hesitant, yet there's a confidence there too, in the way he allows the colour to pool and merge. Painters have been painting vases for centuries, each one bringing their own perspective, their own way of seeing. It's like we're all in this big, ongoing conversation, bouncing ideas off each other, inspiring each other to see the world in new ways.