Annotaties 1914

This page, by Willem Witsen, is all about the dance of numbers and scribbles on paper, a secret language of art-making. It’s like peeking into the artist’s brain as he works through ideas, figuring things out, bit by bit. The real magic here is in the way the pencil marks sit on the page – thin, scratchy, and tentative. There’s a vulnerability in the way these numbers and notes are laid down, like the artist is thinking out loud, trying to wrangle some elusive thought into a solid form. See how some of the numbers are stacked up, almost like little towers of thought? And how the pencil lines vary in darkness, depending on the pressure and speed of the hand? It’s a reminder that art is a process, not just a product. It makes me think of Cy Twombly, another artist who made scribbles into something profound. Both artists remind us that art isn’t always about answers, but about the questions, the searching, and the messy process of trying to make sense of the world.