Picking Strawberries 1919

Maurice Prendergast made Picking Strawberries using watercolour, and it feels like he was interested in something other than capturing a realistic scene. The colours here, they’re not quite how we’d see them in real life, are they? That blue against the browns and greens makes the whole thing pop, like a lovely, slightly off-kilter dream. And the way he’s dabbed the paint, it’s almost like he’s building the image out of these tiny, joyful marks. It’s not so much about what he’s painting, but about how he’s painting it. Look at the way the figures are just suggested, not fully formed. That blue dress on the woman standing – it’s just a few strokes, but it tells you everything you need to know. Prendergast reminds me of Bonnard, in that sense, capturing an interior sense of the world in front of him. It's a reminder that art isn’t just about showing us the world, it’s about showing us how someone sees the world.