Bag c. 1940

This watercolor painting of a bag was made by Cornelius Christoffels, though we don’t know exactly when. Look at all those tiny marks! It reminds me that everything is touch, really, in art. The way the paint sits, thin and washy, not hiding at all, but letting the weave of the paper come through. You can almost feel the way Christoffels carefully built up the colors, layering blues and reds, yellows, and greens, to make all the flowers and that cute little bird. And then the texture of the original bag comes alive in the painting - that knitted, pixilated surface. The artist really took time to explore how an image is made, not just what it is. It reminds me of how someone like Paul Klee, with his small scale works, was interested in the everyday and how it connects to something bigger. It makes you think about how making art is like having a conversation, sharing ideas across time.