Ontwerp voor een kalender c. 1901

This is Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof’s "Ontwerp voor een kalender", made probably with pencil on paper. It looks like a quick sketch, something he made in the moment; I find that so exciting. It's all about the line here, isn't it? Dijsselhof really embraces the flatness of the page, the pencil dancing around to create these figures and forms. There's this real tension between control and looseness. He’s laying down marks with a kind of assuredness but also letting the pencil kind of skate and stutter across the page. The linear quality brings to mind the work of Gustav Klimt, not in terms of subject matter, but in the way line is used to create flat patterns on the page. That little figure at the bottom, it's like a glimpse into his imagination, maybe even a self portrait! I love how art allows us to peek into someone else's mind and way of seeing the world. For me, this piece is an invitation to let go and embrace the messiness of the creative process.