Pigsty 1934

Philipp Franck made this watercolor, titled Pigsty, sometime around the late 19th or early 20th century, and the approach is all about letting the watery paint do its thing. It's a great example of how a simple medium can convey so much. The colors are muted, mostly pinks, browns, and grays, giving the scene a kind of hazy, dreamlike quality. You can almost smell the earth and the animals. The way Franck uses the watercolor is really interesting. It's thin and transparent, allowing the white of the paper to peek through in places, which gives the painting a sense of light and air. Look closely, and you'll see how he lets the colors blend and bleed into each other, creating soft, organic shapes. Take the pig at the front, for instance. See how the dark browns and purples around its face create a sense of depth and weight? It's really masterful. This reminds me of Degas, actually, in how he captured everyday scenes with such honesty and beauty. Ultimately, Pigsty is about finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.