Figuren op de bloemen- en plantenmarkt te Brussel 1930 - 1938

Otto Verhagen made this pencil sketch of the flower market in Brussels, probably on site, sometime in 1930. Look at the tentative, almost frantic, marks, it really feels like he's trying to capture the moment. The surface of the paper is so important here, you can see the weave of the page through the pencil marks. The shading on the woman's dress is particularly lovely, the way the marks run from dark at the top to almost disappearing at the hem. And then you have this other drawing, almost like a doodle, of a man in a cap, down in the corner. The whole thing has a very spontaneous, in-the-moment feel, a bit like some of Manet's quick sketches. Verhagen is showing us that art isn't always about the perfect finished product, sometimes the process is just as important.