Décor de la salle à manger (House for an art lover, Glasgow) 1901

Charles Rennie Mackintosh made this design for a dining room in Glasgow, and its mix of watercolors and pencil feels both precise and dreamy. There’s something so satisfying about the earthy palette, those muted blues and greens that feel totally natural, almost like looking at moss or a cloudy sky. But then he throws in these pops of rose, these floral motifs, and suddenly it’s elevated, it’s romantic. I like the way he uses line, too, the way those vertical lines cascade down, they're like rain. Look at the way those lines seem to drip, almost like the pigment is still wet. It’s so delicate. It reminds me a little of Klimt, actually, the way he mixes ornamentation with really raw, organic shapes. It’s like Mackintosh is saying that decoration is part of nature, it’s not something separate, but something that grows and evolves. It's a conversation that continues.