Ontwerp voor een kamerbeschildering 1884 - 1952

Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries made this design for a room decoration with watercolor and pencil. I love the dedication to ornamentation. It makes me think about Matisse and his preoccupation with pattern and decoration, but also Bonnard, with his intimate domestic interiors. It’s like de Vries is building a beautiful cage. I imagine what it might have been like to create this piece: the repetitive mark making, the focus on these small floral motifs, the layering of color upon color to create such a delicate surface. And there’s something so endearing about its awkwardness. I sympathize with de Vries, trying to figure out how to make this room sing, to find a balance between the floral motifs and the geometry of the architecture, the door, the window, the walls. Ultimately, all artists are in an ongoing conversation, exchanging ideas across time and inspiring one another.