Lake, New Hampshire 1913

Maurice Prendergast made this watercolor, Lake, New Hampshire, with loose, joyous marks. Look at how the blues and greens dance together in the trees, all blobs and splatters—that’s artmaking as a process right there, a kind of visual thinking. The material aspect of watercolor—its fluidity, its way of staining the paper—is key here. You can almost feel the water in the paint, mirroring the lake it depicts. Notice the confident strokes defining the figures; they are so quick, so sure. Take the tree on the right—it's like Prendergast is showing us how to see, how to distill a tree into its most essential, vibrant self. Prendergast's unique vision reminds me a bit of Bonnard, who also had this knack for capturing light and atmosphere with such deceptive ease. Both artists remind us that art isn’t about perfect representation, but about feeling and seeing the world anew.