Brief aan Anna Dorothea Dirks Possibly 1917

This letter was penned by Thérèse Schwartze in 1917, it's a peek into the life of an artist through the most casual of marks, handwriting. The slightly faded ink is a reminder that artmaking is often just a conversation carried out over time. Look at the way the letters lean and loop, some thick with ink, others trailing off. It’s like seeing a painter’s hand in the middle of a gesture, that moment of hesitation or flourish. The texture of the paper is smooth, but the ink bleeds a little, as if the words are still trying to find their shape, each word like a brushstroke, a layering of thoughts and intentions. Notice especially the repeated downstrokes in words like ‘narigheden,’ the density builds a rhythm on the page. Schwartze, known for her portraits, shows a different kind of intimacy here, revealing the everyday behind the formal. It reminds me of Hilma af Klint's notebooks, where personal writing became an integral part of her artistic process. Both artists show us how meaning is constructed, not just in finished works, but in the fleeting gestures, in the process of thinking itself.