Art Notes

I visited Sargent and Paris  exhibition at the Met, partly as a study. Most of the works I've already saw at Sargent and Fashion  at Tate Britain this summer, yet second time staring at these paintings, I was still in awe. There’s something about Sargent’s paintings that resists familiarity—they don’t grow old with time or repetition. If anything, they reveal more. What makes Sargent so endlessly fascinating? Perhaps it’s the paradox at the heart of his technique: the brushwork appears spontaneous, even careless, and yet it’s underpinned by exacting control. A single highlight tossed on a cuff or collar seems almost accidental—until you realize how precisely it lands, how much it holds the form together. Sargent often scraped away the entire painting and started over without hesitation. He was rarely satisfied with a first attempt. This relentless refinement reminds me of ballet: the illusion of effortless born from relentless discipline. Sargent's Notes:  Simpl...