Maud Coats 1906

John Singer Sargent made this oil on canvas portrait, Maud Coats, sometime around the turn of the century. Looking at the way Sargent's put down the paint here, you can really see art-making as a process. There's a looseness, an attention to light and movement over detail, that suggests he was in conversation with the painting itself, willing to let it guide him. What I find so captivating is the way the material aspects of the work shape our emotional experience. The paint isn't thick, but it's not exactly thin either – it has a juicy quality, especially in the ruffles of her dress. Look at the way he handles the orange sash around her waist; there’s a vibrancy there that pops against the creamy whites and browns. You can almost see the individual strokes, the quick flicks of the brush that bring the fabric to life. It's like he's not just painting a dress but also the feeling of silkiness, of light catching on the folds. Sargent reminds me a bit of Manet, in his ability to capture the fleeting moments of life, prioritizing feeling over precision. For both artists, their art is all about ambiguity.