Mrs. Gardner in White

This was painted in 1922 by John Singer Sargent.

This was the last painting done of Isabella Stewart Gardner before she died, two years later, in 1924. Sargent painted Gardner at her home in Boston. This was shortly after she suffered a stroke, and her presence in the portrait is more subdued than that of the other portraits. The painting was done in watercolor, a paint that runs and blurs lines lacking in precision. This medium makes the piece look dream-like. Gardner is wearing all white, with only her face peeking through the swaths of fabric. Unchanged is her seemingly unfaltering gaze outwards, towards whoever is looking at her. Gardner was quoted describing the painting as a “a water-colour, not meant, I hope, to look like me". Even in her last years, Gardner still was carefully curating her lasting image. In this last painting, you would almost think it were a different woman than the one painted in previous years had it not been for the the eyes.

This is the interesting part about paintings, we get to acquaint ourselves with the dead. 

She looks almost otherworldly, aged and subdued. But, this is another way that Gardner is remembered. In a time before cameras and social media, Gardner documented most of her life through the portraits done of her. Through the paintings, we can see her age. But, miraculously, she stops at this painting 1922. This is how she is last remembered, not dead but rather almost transcendent.

If you walk quietly through the hallways of the museum, you can still feel the ghosts of Isabella and the others who now hang on the walls. There was a time that the museum was a home, a time where champagne was spilled in the courtyard, and Gardner herself floated through the rooms, appreciating the beauty she surrounded herself with. This watercolor is striking because it shows the essence of the curator, the steadfast gaze, the readiness to be looked upon.