"If London is a watercolor, New York is an oil painting"

Peter Shaffer draws a vivid contrast between London and New York by invoking the distinct artistic qualities of watercolor and oil painting. Watercolor conjures images of misty washes, delicate tones, and subtle gradations. Applying this to London, the city emerges as a landscape defined by ambiguity, softness, and a kind of gentle elusiveness. London’s foggy mornings, subdued architecture, and centuries-old streets mingle in diffuse blends, never seeking the sharpness of definition. The atmospheric nature of watercolor aligns with the city’s history of rain, muted skies, and its blend of antiquity with modernity. The effect is contemplative, inviting pause, evoking moods rather than declarations.

In sharp contrast, oil painting commands presence. Through oils, colors achieve brilliant saturation, forms lay claim to solidity, textures take on palpable weight. New York becomes, by this analogy, bold and assertive, a place where lines are clear, ambition is vivid, and even chaos is thrown into relief by electric force. The skyscrapers, neon lights, relentless movement, and the collision of cultures all add to the city’s energy. The oil painting’s richness symbolizes how the city doesn’t shy away from attention but rather claims it outright. Its contrasts, opportunities, and challenges exist in high definition, never receding quietly into the background.

Underlying the metaphor is an appreciation for the aesthetics of both cities. Each style carries its own virtues, London’s ethereal beauty and quiet history, New York’s unapologetic display of dynamism. The comparison speaks to temperament as much as place: where one city might seep into your consciousness with subtlety, the other demands and dazzles with immediacy. Shaffer’s analogy encourages a deeper observation, hinting that cities, like artworks, are not simply experienced but felt in layered, sensorial ways, some through the interplay of shadows, others through the brilliance of their light.