Brief aan Jan Veth en Anna Dorothea Dirks Possibly 1905

This is a letter written by Karel Johan Lodewijk Alberdingk Thijm to Jan Veth and Anna Dorothea Dirks, in 1905, with ink on paper. Look at the way Thijm’s handwriting ebbs and flows across the page, like dark water finding its own level. In places the ink bleeds, pools into damp patches obscuring the words beneath. Maybe the paper was thin or maybe the pen nib was too wet, it’s hard to say, but these accidents, these unpredictable moments, create a texture, an atmosphere, that adds so much depth to the letter. I love how the faded brown ink hints at the passage of time, the fragility of memory. See how the looping lines almost become abstract, like tiny drawings or coded messages hidden within the text? To me, it's as if each stroke carries not just information, but also emotion, personality, a kind of intimacy. It reminds me of Cy Twombly’s mark-making, the way he transformed writing into art, blurring the line between communication and expression. Both artists embrace the beauty of imperfection, inviting us to find meaning not just in the words, but in the rhythm, the texture, the very act of writing itself.