Provincetown Dunes 1914

Charles Demuth made this watercolor painting, Provincetown Dunes, with fluid washes of colour. Look how the paints have been allowed to blend and bleed into one another; it's as though the dunes themselves are dissolving right before our eyes. I can imagine Demuth outside with his paper, watching the light shift across the landscape, trying to capture its fleeting beauty. It’s so evocative of place. The choice of watercolor gives it that ephemeral quality, like a memory fading at the edges. See that vibrant purple streak cutting across the center? It's like a bolt of energy, grounding the work despite its light touch. It's interesting to me, the way he’s taken something solid, like dunes, and made them feel so transient. In my own practice, I'm always trying to find that balance between structure and fluidity. And I find it really touching to see other painters grapple with that same challenge across time.