Rilke:The Sonnets to Orpheus 1996

Maria Bozoky made this watercolour drawing, Rilke:The Sonnets to Orpheus, using a light touch and a delicate palette. The way she lets the paint bleed and mingle feels like a dance between control and chance, and it’s in that space that the magic happens. Look at how the colors wash over each other, creating these ethereal layers. The greens and blues, especially in the figure’s form and the background, give the whole piece a ghostly feeling, like a memory or a dream. The thin lines that sketch out the figure add to this sense of fragility. I am drawn to how Bozoky uses the transparency of watercolor to suggest depth and form. It reminds me a little of Odilon Redon, in the way he uses color and light to create these otherworldly, symbolic spaces. There's a real openness to interpretation here, inviting us to bring our own stories to the canvas.