Sunday, 23 April 2017: Expecting the Unexpected

(Two Girls Fishing, by John Singer Sargent, 1912.)

 

“If you do not expect the unexpected you will not find it, for it is not to be reached by search or trail.” —Heraclitus

This Sargent painting lives at the Cincinnati Art Museum. It’s a stunning painting–despite its obvious artifice, the two girls are so of a piece with their surroundings that they look as though Sargent might have discovered them growing there. But it’s not a natural scene. Only an artist looking for the perfect balance of...