A Winged Sorceress Soaring above Mountains 1907

This small watercolor work shows a winged sorceress rendered in soft washes of blue, brown and green, soaring above misty mountains and a distant, fairytale castle. It's like the artist dreamed this image into being. I can imagine the artist, maybe a young woman, hunched over a table, dipping her brush in water, coaxing these delicate forms onto paper. What was she thinking as she painted this fantastic scene? Was she imagining herself as the sorceress, escaping the constraints of her own life? I feel this in the slightly nervous signature at the bottom right. The thinness of the watercolor allows the light to reflect off the paper, creating a dreamy, ethereal effect. Notice how the artist uses subtle gradations of tone to suggest depth and atmosphere, especially in the treatment of the clouds and mountains. This reminds me of other artists, like Hilma af Klint, who painted visionary scenes, blurring the lines between reality and imagination. It shows how artists, even across time, share a kind of visual conversation.