Studie voor een tulpenschaal 1918

This is Theo Colenbrander's Studie voor een tulpenschaal, made with pencil and watercolour. The marks are delicate and tentative, like he’s feeling his way around the form rather than dictating it. I'm drawn to the circular composition filled with those soft, muted colours. Look at how he’s used a kind of light blue, it runs along the rim of the plate, and the way it bleeds ever so slightly into the paper. There's something so gentle and inviting about that, like a faded memory. I imagine the watercolour was applied in layers, building up a translucent depth that glows from within. What I love about a piece like this is its openness. Colenbrander gives us just enough information, just enough of a hint, and then lets our own imaginations fill in the gaps. It reminds me a little of Odilon Redon, that sense of dreamy symbolism and an interest in decorative art. Art is always in conversation with itself, isn't it?