The Absinth Drinker 1908

Albrecht Anker painted this watercolor, The Absinth Drinker, at a particular time in the late 19th or early 20th century, but who knows when, really? You can imagine the brush dancing across the paper, coaxing out this character from the ether. The pale washes of color are very light, like the ghost of a memory, or an idea. The surface is so thin, it’s practically breathing. I wonder what Anker was thinking as he made this piece? Did he know this chap? Was he a regular down the pub? Did he find it tragic, funny, or both? The tilt of the head, the gesturing hand, it is a good painting of a person. You know? Like all paintings it is a conversation with the world, a conversation between the artist, the subject, the other artists he looked at, and one he never knew he looked at. And now us.