The contrasting use of color, one man painted blurry and the other sharp, in the double-portrait Bedouins (1905-06) melds Sargent’s culminating view of himself, of the struggling evolution away from his public life and towards a solitary, private life, free of societal inhibitions. Sargent presents both facets of himself: the image of an exulted portrait painter that the public sees, on the right, and the independent solitary self that he himself sees. The figure on the right, painted in soft, blurry blues, recalls the monochromatic paintings of Sargent’s studies from his 1890 trip, and represents Sargent’s view of his public self. The colors are smudged and the figure looks as if it is fading out of the paper, fading out of Sargent’s current life. The figure stands in the shadow of the Bedouin on the left, literally as the sunrays shine from the left, and visually as he is minimized in comparison to the bold swift strokes of saturated blues, purples, greens, and gold browns that compose his companion. In fact, the only light that shines on this “public Sargent” calls attention to the hood that Sargent has painted to cover him up; it is apparent that Sargent wants this public visualization of himself to disappear. By contrast, the Bedouin that mirrors Sargent’s perception of himself in Arabia is made prominent by crisp vivid color and the strong rays from the sun putting him, and symbolically a freer and bolder Sargent, in the “spotlight.”
It was this more self-aware Sargent that returned to England in 1906, determined to abandon his public image as a portrait painter and forgo commissions. In a latter to Ralph Curtis, he affirmed, “I really am shutting up shop” (qtd. Goldfarb 96), and to Ariana Curtis he confided that it was “positive bliss to think that I shall soon be a free man” (qtd. Goldfarb 96). But as much as he claimed to relinquish commissions, in the years 1906 to 1907, he produced fifteen to twenty-five commissioned portraits each year (Fairbrother 118). What was it about England that led him to so quickly return to his roots? Perhaps it was his kind nature (Kilmurray and Ormond 18) that could not refuse requests or perhaps the clients were just too insistent. Whatever the reason, it is clear, however, that if Sargent wanted to separate himself from his public image, then he needed physically to do so. By staying in England, he subjected himself to constant requests for commissions and to the feeling of unfulfillment. One trip to Arabia could not cure this and it was only through a second trip in 1905 that Sargent fully realized his desire as a person and as an artist: he wanted to be solitary, for in this state he was unlimited in his creativity and unrestrained in his ideas. It is clear that to be to “free man” that he wanted to be, he needed to physically leave England and enter Arabia.
Image of Sargent: “John Singer Sargent.” Online Image. NNDB: Tracking the Entire World. 12 January 2006. http://www.nndb.com/people/515/000040395