Camouflaged Field in France 1918

John Singer Sargent made this watercolor, Camouflaged Field in France, at some point in his career, and what strikes me is how he uses these loose, washy strokes to capture a scene that's all about hiding and deception. It's kind of ironic, right? There's a real tension in the way he handles the paint. It's so fluid and transparent, yet he's describing something solid, something built to conceal. Look at the way the light filters through the wheat, creating these shimmering, almost abstract patterns. You can practically feel the breeze rustling through the field. Then, your eyes meet the barrier at the back and all of a sudden the mood changes. It reminds me of some of Gerhard Richter's blurry paintings, where the image seems to be just out of reach, like a memory fading away. Maybe Sargent is trying to tell us that seeing isn't always believing.