Kerkinterieur met predikant achter de kansel 1884 - 1952

Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries made this sketch of a church interior, likely on-site, with graphite on paper. The marks are quick and confident, and there's a real sense of immediacy, like he was trying to capture the essence of the space before it disappeared. I’m drawn to the way De Vries uses line to create a sense of depth and volume. See how he builds up the shadows with dense, scribbled marks, especially around the pulpit? It's not about perfect representation, but about conveying the feeling of being in that space, the weight of the architecture, the solemnity of the occasion. The words at the bottom are literally grounded in the material world, like how Cy Twombly combined text and image. It reminds me a bit of the sketches of Constantin Guys, who was a real observer of modern life in Paris. Both artists share that ability to capture a scene with a few deft strokes. The piece is an invitation to slow down, to observe, and to appreciate the beauty of the everyday.