De grootmoeder van Kees

This comic strip, "De grootmoeder van Kees," was made by an artist known only as Monogrammist G.J., and whoever they were, they worked with a limited palette and a clear narrative impulse. The lines are crisp, almost cartoonish, but it’s the pale blues, browns, and pinks that give the scenes their quiet, absurd mood. In the top left panel, notice the pink of the pig carcass, how it echoes in the man’s cheeks, in his light brown boots – a kind of rosy tint to the whole endeavor. It’s all very matter-of-fact, the way the panels progress, each one a contained moment, and I love how these colors are so muted, but their consistency builds a feeling. I think of artists like Philip Guston, who used pinks and reds to hint at something sinister, even funny. The humor here is gentle, but the colors give everything a touch of the strange, turning the everyday into something dreamlike. It reminds us that even the simplest stories can hold layers of meaning.