Horse And Carriage 1905

Giovanni Boldini made this watercolour painting, Horse and Carriage, in 1905, and it feels so fresh! He wasn't precious with his materials. The horse and carriage are dashing off to somewhere unknown, rendered with such a loose hand. The brushstrokes are transparent and quick, like light flashing off a moving object. Look at how the washes of green and brown blend to form the landscape, almost dissolving at the edges. The wheels are the only spot of intense colour; the eye jumps to it immediately. You can almost hear them turning! Boldini lets the white of the paper do a lot of work. He doesn't fuss too much with detail, but he doesn't need to. This is how he seizes a particular moment. It makes me think of someone like Manet, capturing modern life with a directness and immediacy that feels very contemporary. Painting is like a conversation across time, a dialogue of gestures and ideas.