Vrijend paar op een bed 1916 - 1919

This is a drawing by Max Beckmann, made with thin, scratchy lines that carve out a scene of intimacy. You can almost feel the scratching of the etching needle across the plate. Beckmann's mark-making is really something, isn't it? Notice how he captures the couple intertwined, lost in their own world, while all around them, chaos seems to reign. I can imagine him hunched over the plate, wrestling with the image, trying to capture the raw energy of human connection amidst the messiness of life. The composition is daring. It is also claustrophobic, and there are bodies everywhere! There's something about the physicality of the medium—the way the lines dig into the surface, the way the ink clings to the paper—that amplifies the emotional weight of the image. It reminds you that artists don't work in a vacuum. They build upon the ideas and techniques of those who came before, adding their own unique voice to the ongoing conversation. Ultimately, it is up to us to give it meaning.