Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1921

This letter to Philip Zilcken was written by Maurice Maeterlinck on December 6, 1921, using ink on paper. The blue ink is applied with a delicate hand, each word carefully rendered, but the handwriting is informal and a bit messy. See how certain letters trail off, as if the writer's thoughts were outpacing his pen. The blue ink against the off-white paper feels intimate, like a peek into a private exchange. Look closely and you can see the texture of the paper and the slight variations in the ink's tone, where it's denser in some areas and lighter in others, giving the script a tactile quality. The overall effect is that of a moment frozen in time. I’m reminded of Cy Twombly, although Maeterlinck’s marks are less overtly expressive, there's a similar sense of immediacy. Both seem to value the process and the intimacy of the handwritten, creating a space where the personal and the aesthetic merge.