Venetian Canal c. 1907

John Marin made this Venetian Canal drawing with pastel and charcoal on paper; what strikes me about it is how it captures a sense of place through pure gesture. Marin wasn't interested in photorealism; it’s more like he’s trying to capture the feeling of Venice, a fleeting impression of light and movement. Look at how he uses these short, broken lines and dabs of color – pink, blue, a touch of orange – on the grey paper. It's all suggestion, no hard edges. The charcoal gives it depth, a kind of hazy atmosphere. I like the way the canal itself is just a scribble, a dark smudge that somehow conveys the water's surface. There’s a tension between the looseness of the marks and the solidity of the architectural forms. Marin’s work reminds me a bit of Whistler, but with more energy, more dynamism. Both artists were interested in capturing the essence of a scene rather than its literal appearance, and both knew how to do that with just a few well-placed marks. Art is all about the conversation that happens between the artist, the artwork and the viewer, right?