Sailboats 1977

LeRoy Neiman slapped down 'Sailboats' with confident strokes of juicy color, mostly blues, pinks, and whites. You can imagine him working fast, wet-on-wet, figuring it out as he went along. I wonder what it was like to make this painting? Maybe he felt the salty spray of the sea? Look at how the strokes of paint curve and swirl, capturing the movement of the water and the billowing sails. See how the pink sail catches the light? It's like a fleeting moment, captured in a burst of energy. Neiman’s got a lot of painterly relatives, like the quick impressionistic style of someone like Sargent, and the bold use of color like Matisse. Painters are always talking to each other, across time, across space. And that’s the beauty of painting: it’s not about answers, but about keeping the conversation alive, with every gesture, every color, every brushstroke.