Studieblad, onder andere met een figuur c. 1905

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this sketch, Studieblad, with graphite on paper. It's a jumble of lines, a collection of false starts, of possibilities. You can see the artist thinking through the marks, almost like a meditation. I love the way the lines hover, never quite resolving into a definite form. It's like glimpsing something out of the corner of your eye – is it a figure, a building, or just a trick of the light? Look closely at the cluster of marks in the center. There is no strong contrast between the delicate lines of graphite and the paper, nothing is overwrought. This is art as process; a dialogue between the artist and the medium, a record of the artist's searching gaze. It reminds me of Cy Twombly's scribbles, the way he could turn a simple line into something profound. It's not about what it represents, but about the energy and the feeling it conveys. That, to me, is the magic of art.