Vase c. 1936

Nicholas Amantea made this painting, Vase, sometime in the 20th century, using what looks like watercolor on paper. The cool blues and grays give it a muted, almost ghostly feel. I can imagine Amantea carefully building up the layers of watercolor, trying to capture every little detail of this textured vase. It’s like he’s really seeing it, not just looking. The cross-hatched pattern on the vase makes me think of woven fabric or even the way light refracts through a crystal. The way the paint thins out towards the bottom gives it a sense of lightness, like it's floating just above the surface. It reminds me of some of Giorgio Morandi’s still lifes, with their quiet contemplation of everyday objects. Artists are always responding to the still lives of the past, I find. Painting is often about that—not just representing something, but feeling it, thinking about it, and sharing that experience.