Studies, mogelijk architectuur c. 1901

This drawing, Studies, mogelijk architectuur, was made by Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof, and is currently located in the Rijksmuseum. Looking at this sketch, I can imagine Dijsselhof with his pencil, hovering over the page, not quite knowing what will come out. We see faint lines, ghosts of ideas he is conjuring, feeling his way through the materiality of the architecture he is imagining. The Art Nouveau style is here, the organic, almost plant-like quality of the forms; the attempt to bring a quality of movement to something static, and a sense of life to geometric design. This is a private moment, when the artist is in conversation with the work of other artists, building on historical foundations, yet pushing the conversation forward, trying to say something new. It’s not about perfection, it's about exploration, about the joy and struggle of bringing something new into the world.