Brief aan Felicien Bobeldijk Possibly 1907

This is a letter written by Willem Witsen to Felicien Bobeldijk in 1907. It's not paint, but it shares that feeling of raw expression that you get when someone puts pen to paper. The ink is dark, almost black, and it looks like he was using a fountain pen, maybe with a slightly scratchy nib, you can tell by the way it thickens and thins with the pressure. The paper looks like it has a soft tooth, absorbing the ink just enough to give it a slight halo. Look at the way he forms his letters, looping and connecting them. It's a personal script, full of energy and movement. You can almost hear him thinking as he writes, crossing out a word here, adding a flourish there. It reminds me of Cy Twombly's scrawls, except here, the act of writing is a kind of drawing, a way of expressing thought and emotion directly onto the page. It makes me think about letters by Van Gogh, a similar emotional outpouring. Art, like letter writing, is a conversation. It never really tells you one thing, but stays open for possibilities.