Blick auf die Vajolet-Türme in den Dolomiten 1905

Edward Theodore Compton made this watercolour painting, Blick auf die Vajolet-Türme in den Dolomiten, sometime in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, and the way he's handled the paint is really interesting to me – so fluid and immediate. You can see how he's built up the image in layers, letting the white of the paper show through in places. It's like he's trying to capture a fleeting impression of the landscape, rather than a detailed record. The colours are quite muted: greys, browns, and creams – which gives the painting a sort of hazy, dreamlike quality. Look at the way he's used those colours to describe the rocky peaks of the mountains. You can almost feel the cool air and the rough texture of the stone. I think the best bit is the soft wash of grey at the bottom of the painting. It suggests mist or shadow, and it really anchors the whole composition. It reminds me a little bit of the work of John Singer Sargent, who was also a master of watercolour, although Sargent's work is generally a bit more polished and refined. Here, it's much more like a sketch, and I love how Compton has left some areas unresolved, allowing the viewer to fill in the gaps. For me that’s what painting is all about – a kind of open-ended dialogue between the artist and the viewer.