The Harem (Sketch) 1903

Anton Azbe painted this oil sketch, The Harem, sometime before 1905, and it feels to me like a snapshot of a moment. The brushstrokes are quick and loose, like he’s trying to capture a fleeting impression, with this limited tonal palette of ochres, blues and browns. I love how he uses these broad strokes to define the forms, but without getting too bogged down in the details. You can see the physicality of the medium, the way the paint sits on the surface, thick in some areas, thin and transparent in others. Look at the figure in the foreground, how it melts into the background, dissolving the form in shadow. It reminds me of Manet, the way he uses paint to create a sense of light and atmosphere, and to hint at something rather than to tell it all. It’s this ambiguity that makes the piece so compelling.