The Parrots c. 1910

Frederick Carl Frieseke made this painting of two women and a birdcage, with oil on canvas. I can imagine him starting with an impression, laying down that initial wash of color and letting the whole thing emerge through touch and feeling. Look how the surface shimmers. He captures a gentle moment with these women in repose, their attention focused on the birds. I wonder what he was thinking as he painted it. Maybe he liked that tension between domesticity and wildness, or the way the light filters through the gilded cage. It makes me think about the way Degas painted women in their private moments. It's got that same voyeuristic quality, but here, there's also a real sense of warmth and intimacy. There’s an ongoing exchange of ideas across time, each artist responding to the other. It's like a visual conversation that keeps evolving, where ambiguity meets new meaning.