It is not until fifteen years later in 1905 that Sargent arrives again in Arabia, this time without a mentality of work or a focus on a commission; he is thus able to completely submerge himself in the enamoring language of the Arabian Nights and blissfully paint with unrestrained splashes of pure saturated pigment. With his public image along with its accompanying public world left behind, Sargent views this excursion without resentment or melancholy: it is a purely pleasure trip for his private self. For this reason, there is no overshadowing dejection and it is, in fact, difficult to find a painting from this trip that does not exhibit Sargent’s full immersion in freedom. Each painting has a wide range of brilliant color that is too intense to be naturalistic and is instead more interpretative: Bedouin Mother (1905), Arab Woman (1905-06), and Bedouins (1905-06) are just some examples featuring lavish vigorous colors. The color evolution from gloomy and dark to glowing and light suggests Sargent’s mental evolution from feeling confined by the maintenance of his public image to breaking free out of that shell. With his developing freedom, Sargent no longer suppresses his romantic view of Arabia and fully reveals his fascination in the Arabian Nights in his exotically colored paintings.
With his liberation from the public world, Sargent goes beyond illustrating his passion in the Arabian Nights: he is not only free to express his interests but also free to reflect on both his mental journey in going from a public figure to a solitary artist and his future now that he was in Arabia. Whereas we can see the change, evident in the colors of the paintings, from a man encompassed by his public life, eager to further his name even at the cost of his happiness, to one who realizes the importance of fulfilling the desires of his private self, Sargent in his 1905 excursion asserts what this change means to him: his fear in leaving the security of his public life conflicting with his desire to fulfill his own wants, and what he hopes the future will hold. In this way, the paintings from this trip to Arabia constitute an autobiographical chart of his growing disregard towards his public image and increasing consideration of a solo life.