The Orchard 1913

Maurice Prendergast made this watercolor, The Orchard, most likely sometime in the early 20th century. The washes of blues, greens, yellows and browns seem tossed onto the paper with a playful, improvisational approach. You can sense him experimenting with how much the colors bleed and blend together. The texture here is all in the surface of the paper, the way it absorbs the watery paint. Look at how the color pools along the bottom, or how the trunks of the trees are built up from many thin layers of black and brown. It looks like Prendergast went in and out of focus, like he was looking at the landscape very closely and then letting his mind drift. This feels similar to what Bonnard was doing, that sense of intimate looking, as if he were capturing a fleeting impression or feeling. Ultimately, the painting embraces a kind of open-endedness. Prendergast is asking us to be patient, to linger with the image and let its subtle nuances reveal themselves over time.