Lily landscape 1907

Curator: Here we have Tadeusz Makowski's "Lily landscape," rendered in watercolor, dating from 1907. I love the intimacy of watercolor. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: My first impression is one of gentle melancholy. The color palette—dusky rose and muted greens—creates a somber mood. And is that supposed to be the sun, or the moon? Curator: Good question. The positioning is definitely unconventional. Given its date, this piece aligns with the wave of modernists seeking freedom of expression by dismantling form and exploring emotion. In art, water symbolizes intuition and flow. I would hazard to guess he wanted the suggestion of warmth, a sun, or a sun-like deity of nature. It provides a faint sense of direction amid the melancholy you noted. Editor: I agree with the mood. What interests me most are the lines that comprise the composition. At first glance, they appear arbitrary, simply capturing light. On a second look, they have more emotional substance. Think of sacrifice. Think of the passion, death, or martyrdom, such as depictions in pre-Renaissance art, such as grisaille. Curator: Very perceptive. The way the parallel brushstrokes define the fields adds a quiet tension to the painting, doesn't it? Also, given that he did a lot of work "en plein-air," outside, maybe those lines are less premeditated and more reflective of wind direction. What do you suppose the Lily suggests, though, or even symbolizes? Editor: I believe the symbolism of a lily is of utmost importance. I am seeing innocence, rebirth, resurrection…but set within what we discussed before…sorrow. There's also an interplay here of interiority, memory, landscape, all in harmony to generate meaning. I feel I could walk inside the watercolor's mind. It gives me the sensation that someone with something very, very important to convey to me awaits beyond the horizon. Curator: It does have that beckoning quality to it. Ultimately, what resonates is that the simple elegance that radiates off this very early Modernist painting and how it blends reality, expressionism, and the intangible. It's almost ghostly.