Beginning in 1885, John Singer Sargent increasingly spent time painting outside, exploring the techniques and subjects of Impressionism, inspired by a growing friendship with Claude Monet. Executing this work in
rural England (or possibly Nice in southern France), Sargent experimented with distinctly broken brushwork and a high-keyed palette. Thistles captures the tangled movement of the windblown plants in light and shadow.
This landscape composition is remarkably abstract: the dynamic patterning of the thistles asserts the flatness of the picture plane more so than any sense of depth. Sargent continued painting en plein air throughout
his life, a practice that provided needed respite from his busy schedule as an acclaimed portraitist.
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