Brief aan Anna Dorothea Dirks Possibly 1914

This letter to Anna Dorothea Dirks was written by Johan Huizinga in 1914, and it’s funny isn’t it, how a letter is kind of like a drawing? I mean, it’s a gesture – a reaching out. You can almost feel Huizinga’s hand moving across the page, pressing the ink into the paper. The letter becomes a kind of intimate mark-making, a record of his thoughts and feelings at that moment. You know, I can imagine him pausing, pen in hand, searching for the right words, much like I do when I’m painting. The letter itself is a composition, the words and sentences arranged on the page like shapes and colors in a painting. The lines of text create a rhythm, a visual texture that echoes the rhythm of his thoughts. The formal qualities of the letter – the handwriting, the paper, the ink – all contribute to its meaning and effect. It reminds me that everything we create is a form of expression, whether it’s a painting or a simple note to a friend.