Surf (motif from Sylt) 1948

Arno König made this watercolor, "Surf (motif from Sylt)", and I can just imagine him outside, quickly trying to capture the scene. Look at the thin washes of purply-grey above, and then the darker green horizontal stripe of the sea. What I love is how the colours bleed into one another, suggesting movement and atmospheric conditions. It’s like the moment you look at the sea and the sky seems to shift and change. I wonder if König was influenced by the Impressionists, who were also trying to capture fleeting moments. It’s clear from the marks that he was trying to grasp something temporary, like the light on the water, the feel of the wind, or the sounds of crashing waves. Maybe he was thinking about other painters, too, and how he could make this scene his own. Isn’t painting great? It’s always an artist trying to continue a conversation that never ends.