Mrs. Gardner at Fenway Court

John Singer Sargent captured Isabella Stewart Gardner in watercolor at Fenway Court. It's a whirlwind of blues and browns, all thin washes that bleed into each other. Watercolour is tough because it's so transparent. You can't really hide your mistakes! Here, Sargent embraced the fluidity. See how the brown of her cloak kind of melts into the background? It's like he's not trying to define her so much as capture a mood, a fleeting impression. The leaves around her face almost obscure it. It's not about a likeness, more about the atmosphere. I love how he let the white of the paper shine through. It makes the whole thing feel light and airy. It reminds me a bit of Whistler, this interest in capturing a feeling more than a photographic reality. You know, art isn't always about showing you something, sometimes it's more about evoking a feeling, a memory.