Ontwerp voor raam in het Noordertransept in de Dom te Utrecht c. 1934

Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst made this design for a window in the North transept of Utrecht Cathedral with pencil, chalk, and watercolour. Look at this gnarly, gridded composition with a dark moody palette, offset by patches of red and tan! You can sense Holst grappling with how to translate light through colour and form. Imagine him bending over the paper, reworking lines, and adjusting tones, searching for a harmonious, balanced composition. He’s finding his way, making decisions, and changing his mind – you can see the trace of it. It makes me think about the conversations artists have across time, riffing off one another’s ideas, answering each other’s questions. Holst, in his own way, builds on the tradition of stained glass, interpreting it through his unique sensibilities. He embraces the inherent ambiguity of painting, letting the viewer fill in the gaps, and find their own meaning.