A Canal in Venice 1879

Editor: This is "A Canal in Venice," painted by Martín Rico y Ortega in 1879, using watercolor. It has a hazy, dreamlike quality, but there’s a rigid, vertical structure, almost like a stage set. How do you interpret this work through a Formalist lens? Curator: Note the masterful deployment of light. The composition is decidedly divided; how might we analyze its structure as such? We might start by seeing how vertical architectural forms, in a restricted palette, create perspectival space. Are the buildings primary to this aim, or do we look elsewhere to understand what dictates its reading? Editor: Well, the water definitely creates depth and acts as a mirror. The reflections seem just as important as what is reflected, blurring the distinction. Curator: Precisely. Rico’s surface becomes an active zone. What effect do you suppose is achieved by the artist repeating shapes and textures, and where? Note, for instance, the shapes of arches appearing across the surface of the painting. Or even consider the way the tree's leaves mirror details in the building’s façade. Editor: That’s interesting. The shapes create a kind of visual echo. And I see it now, the colors are quite restricted, creating harmony… a sort of quiet energy, because even the reflections have their own internal details. Curator: Consider how the tonal unity relates the foreground with the distance, solidifying the picture plane through strategic deployments. Notice that even where figures are present, the artist renders their presence so subtly that their integration is one of formal qualities only. It almost ceases to be about place at all! Editor: That’s true, it’s all shapes and colors working together to create an effect, it's almost flattened! I now look at the architecture and nature as purely forms on the surface that emphasize its intrinsic flatness. Thanks! Curator: Indeed, by seeing and describing such elements, we have worked our way to seeing the essence of pictorial form!