The power of Sargent's watercolors is in the complexity of what matters -- the wonderful faces of these Bedouins looking right at us. And the lush flow of color in what doesn't matter and what our eyes don't normally pick up at first impression -- the flowing drape of their clothes. In a single painting, Sargent shows us the the whole range and beauty of watercolors as a medium.
John Singer Sargent, An Exhibition -- Whitney Museum, NY & The Art Institute of Chicago 1986-1987