Bloemen c. 1944 - 1990

This print, ‘Bloemen’ by Kees Stoop, is an etching, and I can just imagine the scratching, the delicate but firm pressure, and the working and reworking that went into this image. I love the way the image is framed with an arch, like entering a secret garden. I see tendrils and growth, organic forms emerging. This print is teeming with life. It’s a whole world, dense and full of botanical possibility. It reminds me a little bit of Odilon Redon, but with a Dutch sensibility! Stoop is really thinking about the language of mark-making, like Cy Twombly, but instead of lines, he’s working with botanical forms. There’s a conversation happening through the ages. It's like Stoop is whispering to us, "Look closely, there is so much to see, so much to imagine".