Two Figures c. 1905

This watercolor, ink and graphite work by Auguste Rodin sketches out two intertwined figures, one supporting the other. You can almost feel the energy of the scene, the movement captured in the delicate lines. I can imagine Rodin, hunched over his paper, urgently trying to capture the forms before him. Maybe he's thinking about the weight of the human body, how it balances and shifts, how one form can hold another. See how he uses these soft washes of color to suggest the roundness of their bodies, the way the light catches on their skin. There’s something so vulnerable and intimate about the scene, like we’re intruding on a private moment. Painters are always in dialogue, looking at each other’s work, responding, and pushing back. This piece reminds me a little of some of my own work, actually – this idea of trying to capture something fleeting, something that’s always in motion. Ultimately, painting is a way of making sense of the world, one brushstroke at a time.