Venice. The Prison 1903

John Singer Sargent made this watercolour painting of a Venetian prison at some point in his career. What strikes me is his confidence in the medium, the way he lets the colours flow and mingle on the page, creating this sort of hazy, dreamlike image. Looking at the way he’s handled the water, you can almost feel the gentle rocking of the boats. See how he uses these quick, horizontal strokes of blues, greens, and browns to suggest movement and reflection. You get a real sense of the materiality of the paint itself. And then there’s that dark gondola in the foreground. It’s almost abstract in its simplicity, yet it anchors the whole composition. The prison itself feels so light and airy. It reminds me a little of Turner, who knew a thing or two about capturing light and atmosphere. Like Turner, Sargent uses watercolour to create a kind of visual poetry, where mood and feeling take precedence over photographic accuracy. It’s like a fleeting moment captured in paint, full of ambiguity and suggestion.