Bank on the dune 1952

Arno König made this watercolor, Bank on the dune, sometime in the 20th century, and it’s really all about how he let the water do its thing. There’s a fluidity here, not just in the subject but in the making, a quietness. Look how the grey washes of the sky just bleed into the greens of the sea, and then how that same soft grey sort of hovers over the sandy dune below. The eye travels across these three bands of color. I love how he’s almost sketched in the suggestion of structures with a drier brush and a little line. It’s like he’s saying, "here are the bones of a place, but the real story is in the atmosphere." It reminds me of Morandi, in its quiet observation. What you get is a feeling, a mood, rather than a specific location, like a memory fading at the edges.