Ixion 1907 - 1910

Oluf Hartmann made this little watercolor, Ixion, sometime between 1879 and 1910, a time when folks were really getting into mythological themes. The palette is like a stormy sea made from grays, blues, and browns. It's easy to get the feeling that Hartmann wasn't fussing too much with detail here. You can see in the bottom left corner of the painting there are these zig-zagged lines that look like the movement of an ocean. You can see the brushstrokes really clearly, and the paint kinda floats on the surface. It reminds me that art isn't just about copying what you see, but also about what happens with the materials when you're making it. It’s like Hartmann is talking to other painters, showing them what he's figured out about making a mark.