Watercolor Study in Ab Minor No. 1 — Watercolor on Paper by Arnaud Quercy

About This Artwork

Watercolor Study in Ab Minor No. 1 translates a piano étude into color. Arnaud Quercy takes the Ab minor triad — Ab0, D4, A4, B5 — and assigns each note a color range. The result is a visual score rather than a painted scene. This work opens the Ab minor series and belongs to the Harmonic Crossing collection, which maps musical harmony onto the watercolor medium.

Warm gray tones fill most of the sheet, running from mid-gray through lighter slate and into cooler beige-gray areas. These tones come from the lavender-washed background and the gray circle visible in the upper right, and they account for the broad, even ground of the composition. Against this ground, a yellow-to-gold crescent form rises through the center, providing the strongest chromatic contrast. To its right, a blue-gray rectangle and a larger blue oval anchor the lower right area, corresponding to the blue-toward-black range of the triad. Thin black ink lines cross the surface horizontally and vertically, with two small black rectangles floating on vertical stems in the upper left. These linear elements organize the composition into a loose grid. The technique is watercolor on paper, with flat washes and clean ink outlines defining each shape.

The work measures 21 × 30 cm and weighs 0.1 kg. It is the first work in the Ab minor series within the Harmonic Crossing collection. The certificate number is 20261002-0185. The work was created at the Rue du Dragon studio in Paris on 2 October 2026 and first exhibited at Les Portes du Dragon — Portes ouvertes de la galerie-atelier Art Quam Anima, held at Art Quam Anima, Paris, from 2 to 4 October 2026. The work is currently available.