Sargent and the Sea

Nice concentrated exhibition at the Royal Academy of sea pictures by John Singer Sargent.


Sargent’s sea pictures tended to be his early works and in later life almost his holiday pictures. He shows a wonderful understanding of the sea and an ability to catch the idea of movement in water.


I particularly liked 2 galleries which looked in detail at a picture and the studies which were done for it. In each case “En Route pour la peche” and “Neapolitan children bathing” the pictures looked spontaneous but were in fact completed in the studio and based on extensive studies.


My favorite picture was one of an Atlantic storm from a steamship which gave a real sense of mountainous waves and dipping sea. I felt slightly queasy looking at it!

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