Piazza San Marco No.25 (White Piazza) 1957

William Congdon made Piazza San Marco No. 25, also known as White Piazza, in oil paint, and it looks like the process was all about layering and scraping back. The paint is applied thinly in layers, almost translucent in places, and then scrubbed back to reveal what’s underneath, creating a hazy, dreamlike effect. It’s not about showing off skill, but about the vulnerability of the painting process itself. Look at the surface, how the textures suggest a memory fading or a place seen through a mist. There’s a patch of slightly darker pigment near the center, perhaps figures in a crowd, or maybe just a shadow. Congdon gives us the barest indications, leaving us to project our own experiences onto the canvas. You might think of other painters who were drawn to Venice, like Turner, although Congdon's mark making is all his own. Ultimately, this is a painting that invites us to slow down and get lost in the beauty of imperfection and ambiguity.