Brief aan Isaac Israels Possibly 1922

In 1922, Jan Veth wrote this letter to Isaac Israels. I love that something so intimate as a handwritten note can end up in a museum. Just imagine Veth, pen in hand, the nib scratching across the page, thoughts flowing directly from his mind to the paper. The ink meanders like a dark river, pooling and thinning, as the words accumulate to form sentences and paragraphs. The letter looks like a collaboration between mind, hand, and ink. The handwriting is tight and energetic, each stroke carrying the weight of his message. I wonder what Veth was thinking as he wrote, what details he chose to include, and what he left out. This letter reminds me of how artists communicate across time and space, sharing ideas and inspiring one another, like a conversation through matter. Painting, like writing, becomes an act of embodied expression, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty.