Entering Bergen

The third version of Entering Bergen completes Bone's serial study of the city's harbor approach. By this point in the series, Bone has established the compositional framework (harbor, city, mountains, approaching ship) and is free to concentrate on specific atmospheric effects — the quality of the light, the density of the cloud cover, the particular way the water reflects the buildings at this moment. The watercolor and graphite medium allows each version to have its own atmospheric character while maintaining the structural consistency that makes the three drawings a recognizable series rather than three unrelated works.

Bone's three versions of Entering Bergen constitute a complete serial study that demonstrates his working method: approach, vary, and deepen. The first version establishes the composition, the second explores structural alternatives, and the third synthesizes the insights of the first two into a resolved statement. It is the same method he applied to his serial drawings of London, Glasgow, and the Western Front.

The third Entering Bergen is the synthesis: everything learned from the first two views concentrated into a single drawing. Serial treatment is not compulsive repetition but progressive understanding, and the third version is always the most informed.