Ontwerp voor raam in het Noordertransept in de Dom te Utrecht c. 1934

Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst made this design for a stained-glass window with crayon, chalk, and graphite. I like the way Holst divides the image into distinct color areas with these bold black lines. There's a sense of collage, or even abstraction here, which feels fresh. The colours are earthy, muted. Browns that almost glow with hints of gold and blues that are deep and evocative, almost like looking into the night sky. I'm drawn to the texture he has created with the chalk, especially in the lower register of the image. There's a sense of movement and depth, as if the light is shifting across the surface. You can almost feel the artist's hand at work, layering and blending the pigments to create this visual effect. You get a sense of the stained glass that was going to be constructed and how each piece would have refracted light. It reminds me of Hilma af Klint, another artist who sought to capture spiritual experiences, experimenting with form and color to make visible the invisible. Art's an ongoing conversation across time, isn't it?