Figuren in een interieur c. 1930 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing, *Figuren in een interieur,* with graphite on paper. It's this kind of preliminary sketch, all tentative lines and rubbed-out patches, that I just love to get lost in. I can feel the artist figuring out how to get started. Look at how the charcoal is applied so vigorously in places, and so lightly in others, almost like guesswork. It's not exactly "finished," and that's what I find so compelling about the work. I find myself wondering if Isaac Israels struggled to complete his work or if the figures ever felt quite right. The energy of that struggle feels really palpable. The texture is almost frantic. Think of how the artist’s touch, the gesture of his hand, can communicate so much feeling. It reminds me a little of the early abstract expressionist drawings. Artists are always building on each other's ideas, you know? Each mark is a conversation with what came before, and a question about what comes next. It's like a big, messy, ongoing dialogue, and that’s the beauty of painting. It's never really finished, is it?