Staande man en vrouw in een interieur 1870 - 1937

This small print at the Rijksmuseum shows a man and a woman in conversation, rendered with delicate lines by an anonymous artist. It’s the kind of drawing that makes you think about all the decisions, all the tiny marks that add up to a whole world. The artist's process is all about building up layers with these fine lines. Look at the way the woman’s dress drapes; it's almost entirely described through the subtle shifts in the density and direction of the hatching. It’s like the artist is mapping the play of light and shadow with a pen. I'm drawn to the way the artist uses this technique to create a sense of depth and texture, like in the curtain folds. The contrast of light and shadow adds a certain emotional charge, a quiet tension that makes you wonder what they are saying. Maybe someone like Paula Modersohn-Becker saw something like this and was inspired to think about storytelling through composition.