Boats at Anchor by John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent loved to paint the luminous effect of the water bouncing off of the hulls of boats in a harbor. He would get in a small boat and paint at almost water level boats in harbors from around the world. His works were executed in bold, strong colors with varying degrees of light colors to distinguish the hulls of the boats. He liked to paint on white paper, leaving portions of it showing for the extreme highlights. The diagonals of this scene draw you upward and inward from left to right and the large area of light color in the hulls are offset by strong dark contrasts in the water and the bridge. I particularly like the color mix of warm and cool, strong and light and also the bold brush strokes.