Straat met figuren c. 1930

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this sketch of a street with figures on paper, using pencil. The density of marks really jumps out at me. It’s like he’s mapping not just the scene, but also his own energy and attention. You can see the ghost of erased lines, decisions reconsidered. It gives you a sense of artmaking as a real-time, responsive process. The top half feels like the architecture, described with these quick, hatched lines, while the bottom half explodes in these wild, scribbled gestures. Notice that the physical act of sketching is so present. It’s less about capturing a perfect image and more about the raw energy of seeing and responding. It reminds me of Cy Twombly’s drawings, where the line becomes this seismographic record of thought. And just like Twombly, Cachet isn’t trying to give us answers. He’s inviting us into the beautiful, messy process of trying to make sense of the world.