Huizen, met kleurnotities 1873 - 1932

Wilhelmus Johannes Steenhoff created this drawing, "Huizen, met kleurnotities," with graphite on paper. Look at how the marks build up, tentative and sure all at once, like a sculptor coaxing form out of stone. I imagine Steenhoff standing there, maybe a little cold, quickly capturing the essence of these houses. He jots down color notes, whispering to himself, "greyish ship", "almost glass", "greenish soil." As a painter, I get this urge to trap light and shadow, to make sense of the world through line and tone. The architecture is looming and kind of menacing. These aren't just houses; they're a mood, a feeling. It reminds me a bit of some of Guston’s later, more representational works, or maybe even some of the landscapes by Van Gogh. It's like we are all riffing off of each other, trying to figure out how to make sense of this crazy thing we call life. It’s an ongoing exchange, a conversation through marks and colors, that continues to inspire and challenge.