Oil Painting Lessons From John Singer Sargent

La Carmencita by John Singer Sargent, oil painting, 1890, detail | Oil Painting Lessons From John Singer Sargent | Artists Network
Showcase your talent and win big in Artists Network prestigious art competitions! Discover competitions in a variety of media and enter for your chance to win cash prizes, publication in leading art magazines, global exposure, and rewards for your hard work. Plus, gain valuable feedback from renowned jurors. Let your passion shine through – enter an art competition today!

Why Not Learn from Master John Singer Sargent?

I try and shy away from describing art in bombastic terms. It can become a slippery slope of flowery language with no real takeaways. But when I’m studying the works of no less than John Singer Sargent, phrases like tour-de-force and mind-boggling just sort of slip out. I think that’s to be expected considering how deftly and powerfully he turns oil on canvas into art.
La Carmencita by John Singer Sargent, oil painting, 1890 | Oil Painting Lessons From John Singer Sargent | Artists Network
La Carmencita by John Singer Sargent, oil painting, 1890.

Powerful Brushstrokes

One of the primary oil painting techniques Sargent utilized that I find most intriguing is that every stroke attempts to describe the essence of an object. The texture of fur, the sheen of silk, the intricate knots in lace, the pattern of sunlight on water, a rosy-colored cheek — Sargent attempted to embody all of these in every stroke. He wasn’t trying to add a bunch of strokes together and hopefully get the shimmy and swirl of the fringe on the dancer’s body in La Carmencita, for example. The paint strokes are shimmies and swirls.
Richard Morris Hunt by John Singer Sargent, oil painting, 1895 | Oil Painting Lessons From John Singer Sargent | Artists Network
Richard Morris Hunt by John Singer Sargent, oil painting, 1895.

Never Flat

That’s not to say that every stroke Sargent put down was perfect the first time. As a friend reminded me recently, Sargent painted and scraped and painted and scraped ad nauseam. But he got there! Sargent also came from a point of view that form is never flat. Even a marble walkway as in Richard Morris Hunt or the open air behind a portrait sitter, is enlivened with color and texture that is visually interesting but never overpowering.
Mabel Marquand by John Singer Sargent, oil painting, c.1891 | Oil Painting Lessons From John Singer Sargent | Artists Network
Mabel Marquand by John Singer Sargent, oil painting, c.1891.

Choose the Moment

And Sargent didn’t just paint anything. He painted exceptional moments. That’s not to say he scorned the everyday, but he chose his compositions thoughtfully and well. Even a simple portrait of a woman, a child or a group delivers impact because Sargent pushed to articulate something noteworthy that makes a viewer linger, as in the position of the two figures in the portrait of Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Phelps Stokes or the hand gesture and askance look in Mabel Marquand.
Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Phelps Stokes by John Singer Sargent, oil painting, 1897 | Oil Painting Lessons From John Singer Sargent | Artists Network
Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Phelps Stokes by John Singer Sargent, oil painting, 1897
Art history comes alive when you sit down and let it unfold. The oil painting lessons that Sargent teaches me — which I learned simply by looking at his works — are incredibly rewarding and enriching. But it is also valuable to have expert perspectives on artists past and present as well as context of wider art techniques.

Related Articles

Join the Conversation!

  1. Thanks for another interesting article! I never tire of learning more about Sargent — and agree completely that our adjectives are often inadequate to describe his brilliance. I look forward to reading more from you.

  2. Hi Courtney ,
    I wanted to bring to your readers attention research done on John Singer Sargent’s art style and a new video ” John Singer Sargent : Secrets of Composition and Design” The research basically proposes that Sargent clearly used Gestalt methods of illusion in his art even before it was published. This put him ahead of other artists of his time. He did not reveal this, and did not keep a journal either.

  3. Sargent is one of my most favorite artists if not my most favorite. When I learned of his scraping until there was just a ghost image left, I try to remember that I must be willing to destroy something which I feel is good nor matter how emotionally hard it is to do. It may be precious to me, but I need to get beyond it to improve the next session,

    The only thing I dislike about viewing a Sargent’s work is that you frequently need a ladder to view it properly and there isn’t one around.

Become a member today!

Choose an option below to join now.

$14.99/month

Join Now

 

Free Gift Included

$99.99/year

Join Now

 

  • Stream over 850 videos anytime, anywhere.
  • Enjoy exclusive events with live discussions from today’s top artists!
  • Get access to the Artists Magazine archives and save 30% on additional magazines.

View All Benefits

*Membership cannot be purchased with Gift Cards.