The painting and the study explore the interplay between water’s fluid shapes and the human body. By distorting the shapes of water and intertwining them with the figures, the painting creates a tension between the tangible and the mythical. The figure in the foreground offers a sense of closeness and presence, while the other dissolves into the water, becoming out of reach. Furthermore, the water in the distance also transforms into abstract shapes, only mediating the idea of itself.
The contrasting techniques like opacity and transparency deepen the bathers’ ambiguous reality, inviting the viewer to linger in this in-between space.