Study for 'A summer morning' 1908

Rupert Bunny must have painted this oil sketch in preparation for a larger work, the figures rendered in dreamy whites and creams. Imagine Bunny in his studio, squinting at the scene before him. He’s trying to capture the fleeting light and atmosphere of this summer morning. I think the process of making paintings often involves this kind of looking, squinting, trying to tease out the forms with these loose brushstrokes. There’s something kind of luscious about the paint quality. The figures seem to emerge from the canvas with a hazy, unfinished quality. A sense of intimacy pervades the scene, like a captured moment between a painter and the subjects. It reminds me of the work of Berthe Morisot, where the painting feels like an impression of the world as much as a depiction of it.