Charles Ephrussi 1906

Léon Bonnat painted "Charles Ephrussi" with oil on canvas. Look how Bonnat approaches the paint. The marks are confident and direct, no fussiness here. It’s all about capturing the essence of the sitter, in the moment. You get the feeling he wants to preserve not just the appearance but also the dynamism of the man. The background has a mottled, dreamy quality, like a memory or a mood. Notice how the cool blues and greens make the figure stand out. Then your eye is drawn to the face with its warm tones, and the small red detail. What’s that? A medal? A flower? It's a small dab of vibrant color that gives a certain gravitas. The brushwork in the face and beard is so loose, almost abstract. Bonnat seems to say that representation is about suggestion, about capturing a feeling more than a photographic likeness. This reminds me of Sargent's portraits, that same sense of immediacy and bravura brushwork. Bonnat’s work has a certain looseness and ambiguity. He's having a conversation across time and style.