Mountain landscape. Switzerland 1914

This watercolor of a Swiss Mountain landscape, by Zinaida Serebriakova, captures the ephemeral quality of light. See those vertical shafts of light piercing through the clouds? It’s like the artist is trying to catch something that's always changing, like a fleeting thought. I imagine Serebriakova squinting, trying to capture the way the light interacts with the mountains. It is such a feat to try to capture the world in watercolor – it bleeds and runs away from you. I like how she simplified everything into these basic shapes. The houses clustered on the hillside are rendered with such tenderness and light. I imagine she must have been happy there. It has something in common with the work of Georgia O’Keefe, but feels distinct to Serebriakova. Ultimately painting is about communication and the act of seeing. It is a language that has been spoken for centuries and these artists continue to be in conversation with each other.