The Lavender 1912

Here's a painting by Eugene de Blaas, where a woman stands with bare feet on a stone, the grey sea behind her. She's holding a twisted, white cloth that droops with water after washing. Look at the detail in her face, the blush in her cheeks. Imagine de Blaas carefully mixing each color on his palette, trying to capture the warmness of her skin. The folds in her blue skirt are like waves, mimicking the water surrounding her. It's as if the painting breathes, and she is part of the weather. You can sense the sea air and the dampness of the cloth she’s wringing out. It reminds me of other paintings where women are depicted working, maybe by Millet or Courbet. Artists always looking at each other, answering each other, across time, across place. And paintings always change over time, which means you're free to see whatever you want in this painting.