“If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.”
Edward Hopper
The Eclectic Light Company: “Watching: Sargent’s Paintings of Painters Painting”
This enlightening article on The Eclectic Light Company focuses on John Singer Sargent’s amazing number of paintings of artists at work.
“Even when he was ‘off duty’ as a portrait painter, John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) couldn’t resist painting people. An extremely sociable person who spent much of his career at the height of his profession, he had many friends who were painters, and more than anyone liked to paint those artists at work in the open air. This article looks at some of those paintings.
Sargent had first met Claude Monet in 1876, but it is thought that Sargent’s painting of Claude Monet Painting by the Edge of a Wood was made in 1885, when they were painting together at Monet’s house in Giverny. At the right is Alice, Monet’s wife. In that same year, Sargent moved his portraiture studio to London. The Impressionists occasionally painted themselves at work, particularly during the earlier years of the movement.”Read the full article on John Singer Sargent on The Eclectic Light Company.
Below is a gallery of some of Sargent’s paintings of painters.
Below is a gallery of other painters’ portraits of fellow artists at work.
