Brief aan Richard Roland Holst

This is Willem van Konijnenburg’s letter to Richard Roland Holst, probably made with pen and ink. It’s all swooping lines and gestures, creating a kind of dance on the page. Up top, the drawing of the horse and rider is so free, almost scribbled, but somehow it captures the energy of movement. I love how the marks don’t quite close, leaving gaps that let the white paper breathe. It reminds me that artmaking is a process of searching and feeling. The shadow under the horse is just a few dark strokes, but it grounds the whole image. Then there’s the handwritten text, elegant and personal. You get a sense of the artist's hand, the way he formed each letter, like he’s sharing a piece of himself. This kind of directness always gets me, like the work of Cy Twombly, where the gesture is the message. It’s a reminder that art is, at its heart, a conversation.