Bathers 1915

Maurice Prendergast made this painting, Bathers, with oil on canvas, and it’s just bursting with life. Look at the way he builds up these vibrant, almost mosaic-like marks. You can really see the process, the way each stroke sits next to another. It’s like he’s inviting us to watch him make the painting. I love the way he handles color. The paint is applied pretty thinly in some areas, like a watercolor effect, and then built up in these little stabs of color, especially on the figures. There's a kind of joyful energy here. Like in the bottom left, how a smudge of red becomes a bather. Prendergast is thinking about how a patch of paint can evoke an idea, rather than describe it perfectly. Prendergast reminds me a little of Bonnard, especially in the way he captures a fleeting moment of everyday life. But Prendergast has this all-over touch, where every area of the painting is active and alive, always hinting that art is a conversation without a final word.