Still Life (quince and pear) 1956

This watercolor still life of quinces and a pear, by Balthus, is all about seeing. Not just looking, but a slower, more deliberate kind of seeing. The fruits are rendered with the bare minimum, almost like a haiku. The colors are washed out, pale yellows and greens, a bit bruised, evoking a strange feeling. I love the way the watercolor bleeds at the edges of the fruits, giving them an ephemeral, dreamlike quality. It's as if Balthus wants us to consider the impermanence of things. Notice the one fruit on the left. See how it's darker, with layers of green and brown? The marks there feel less deliberate. Is it about the process of observation itself, about how we piece together our understanding of the world through tentative, evolving marks? Balthus's work has often reminded me of Morandi. Both were so focused on the everyday. Not for some grand statement, but because there's a whole world to discover in the quiet corners of the ordinary. Art isn’t about answers. It's more about the questions.