Outskirts of Paris 1905

Albert Marquet painted this watercolour, Outskirts of Paris, sometime in his life and career. I love how Marquet is so free with the washes, letting the paint and water do their thing! He’s thinned the watercolour right down, so the pigment barely clings to the paper. It’s like he’s trying to capture a fleeting impression, a memory almost fading away. Look at the bottom right corner; those strokes of blue and violet suggest a shoreline, but they could just as easily be abstract marks on a page. I think that ambiguity is what makes this piece so exciting. Marquet reminds me of Whistler in that way, capturing the essence of a place with the bare minimum of detail. But where Whistler is all about atmosphere and mood, Marquet feels more grounded, more connected to the physical world. It’s like he’s saying, "Yes, the world is beautiful and mysterious, but it’s also just…there."