Water fetchers at Giza 1905

Hermann Corrodi made this painting, Water fetchers at Giza, with oil on canvas; a pretty standard choice for a painter in his day. But what’s cool is how he handles it, keeping the paint thin and transparent, almost like watercolor. Look at the way the colors melt into each other in the water, soft browns, greens, and blues creating a kind of shimmering effect. And the figures are rendered with such delicate strokes, you can almost feel the heat radiating off the canvas. I love how the brushstrokes aren't trying to hide, he's not going for some trompe-l'oeil realism, it's more about capturing a feeling, a mood. Corrodi reminds me a bit of painters like John Singer Sargent, who were also interested in capturing light and atmosphere, but with a more controlled hand. With Corrodi, there's a looseness, an openness to the process that I find really appealing. It’s like he’s inviting us to step into his vision of a distant and exotic world, but without all the heavy artifice.