Brief aan Ina van Eibergen Santhagens-Waller c. 1878 - 1938

This letter to Ina van Eibergen Santhagens-Waller was penned in 1912 by Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst. Can you imagine the scene? The artist hunched over the paper, the nib of his pen scratching across the page. The ink flows, dark and deliberate, forming words that bridge the distance between him and his friend Ina. I wonder what Roland Holst was thinking as he wrote? The weight of words, the texture of thought, the sheer physicality of communication – it’s all there in the looping script and the careful arrangement of phrases. See how each stroke carries intention, a gentle pressure that communicates not just information, but feeling. Holst's letters, like his designs, often explore themes of community and shared experience. Artists are always in conversation, you know? This letter, so intimate and immediate, speaks to a broader exchange of ideas and intimacies across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. And ultimately, like all art, it embodies ambiguity, inviting multiple interpretations and meanings.