Nile River at Aswan, Egypt 1960

Ivan Albright created this watercolor called Nile River at Aswan, Egypt. Check out how the loose washes of pinks and oranges create a hazy dreamscape, transforming a real place into a memory. The colors feel both delicate and bold, like a faded photograph infused with a jolt of warmth. The brushstrokes dance across the page, quick and confident. See how the buildings and boats are just suggested with a few strokes, a kind of shorthand. Look at those brushstrokes in the foreground! They point upwards and outwards from the bottom of the page. What do you feel when you look at them? Is it as if you are viewing it from a hilltop, peering down onto the city? Or, are you about to be swallowed up into the painting? This approach reminds me of John Marin's watercolors, where the energy of a place is captured through gesture. Albright isn’t trying to give us a photorealistic view; he's giving us a feeling. Art isn’t about showing us what's there. It's about how we feel when we’re there.