All Ave Maria 1907

John Singer Sargent's "All'Ave Maria" at the Brooklyn Museum feels like a fleeting moment captured in watercolor. The washes of blue and brown, like memories, blend the architecture with the water. Watercolors, right? They’re about embracing the flow, letting the medium lead. Here, Sargent isn’t just depicting a scene; he's making visible the act of seeing. The brushstrokes are quick, confident. Look at the way he suggests figures with just a few dark strokes—blobs, almost. I love it when an artist can do so much with so little. It reveals the fundamental nature of painting, that it is all just marks on a 2D surface. It's like he's whispering the essence of a place rather than shouting it. Think of the way that Turner used watercolor, or even someone like Helen Frankenthaler. It's all about the poetry of light and color, a conversation across time about how we perceive the world. The fixed meaning of the subject dissolves.