Ring around the Rosy 1903

Maurice Prendergast made this watercolour, Ring around the Rosy, sometime around the turn of the century, maybe in the early 1900s. The way Prendergast lays down these washes of transparent colour makes me think of the way light filters through trees, dappling the ground. It’s not precise, but that’s the point, right? The light is always moving, always changing the way we see things. I love how he captures a sense of movement and joy with just a few simple gestures. Look at the way he uses colour, how the blues and greens blend together to create a feeling of depth, how the touches of red and orange pop against the cooler tones. It’s like a visual dance, a celebration of life and colour. Notice the dark marks under each of the figures, suggestive of form, but also just…marks. I think Prendergast’s work, with its flat planes of colour and decorative patterning, owes something to Post-Impressionism. He embraces ambiguity, and multiple interpretations, offering a sense of fleeting moments and the beauty of the everyday.