River, Rocks and Smoke 4/10/90 No. 17 1990

John Cage made this watercolor, River, Rocks and Smoke 4/10/90 No. 17, in 1990. It feels like it was made with a quiet kind of joy, a really beautiful and muted palette, almost like it's whispering to you. The washes are so delicate, almost ghostly, and they blend into each other like mist rising off a river. You can almost feel the paper absorbing the water, the pigment spreading out, making these soft, blurry edges. It’s like he let the water do its own thing. There's a real sense of flow here, of things dissolving and reforming. Look at the lower left corner, there’s this little red square. It's a small, almost childlike gesture, against the larger, more organic forms. It's such a tiny, specific detail that really sets the tone for the piece. Thinking about other artists, it brings Agnes Martin to mind with its quiet, meditative quality. But where Martin is all about structure, Cage is more about letting go. It’s just a conversation, right?