Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1901 - 1919

This is a letter written by Alexandre-Louis-Marie Charpentier in 1901. Look at the handwriting, how each letter is formed with such care and attention. It's like a dance across the page. I think about the physical act of writing with a pen, the pressure, the flow, the way the ink bleeds into the paper. Each word, each sentence, is a deliberate act of creation. And it’s also a performance – the writing tells as much about the writer as it does about the content. Charpentier's letter reminds me of Cy Twombly. There’s a similar energy, a sense of letting go, of allowing the hand to lead the way. But where Twombly's work explodes with energy, Charpentier’s feels more controlled, more contained. Maybe writing offers a different kind of constraint than painting, or maybe it's just the difference between two artists, two sensibilities. Either way, this letter is a reminder that art can be found in the most unexpected places.