Schetsboek met 43 bladen Possibly 1906 - 1909

Willem Witsen created this sketchbook with 43 pages, though we don't know when. Imagine Witsen, wandering around with this very book, trying to capture a slice of the world! A painter's sketchbook is where ideas take root, where the chaos of life gets distilled into lines and shapes. It's more than just paper bound together; it’s a repository of fleeting moments and lingering observations. I wonder, did he carry it with him everywhere? Did he quickly sketch a landscape in one sitting? Maybe he worked on some of these drawings for weeks, returning to them, adding layers, rubbing them back... Sketchbooks are a safe space for artists, they’re a laboratory for seeing, a site for thinking, and a testament to the artist’s ongoing conversation with the world.