Sellar Alp, Dolomites c. 1913 - 1914

John Singer Sargent captured this landscape, Sellar Alp, Dolomites, in watercolor. Look at that wash of green, laid down so freely. It's like he’s giving us the feeling of the place, rather than a literal view. I imagine him standing there, brush loaded, trying to catch the light as it shifts over the mountains. The way he used color—those dabs of purple and lavender—they’re not just descriptive; they're emotional. It reminds me of the way Cezanne would use color to build form, but here, it’s looser, more intuitive. You can almost feel the coolness of the mountain air, the vastness of the landscape. It's like Sargent is in conversation with all the painters who came before him, riffing on their ideas, pushing them in new directions. And now, we're part of that conversation too, looking, thinking, feeling our way through the painting. It’s all about exchange, inspiration, and keeping the dialogue going.