De Kuiperspoort, noordzijde, te Middelburg Possibly 1938

Willem Kromhout made this drawing of De Kuiperspoort in Middelburg with pen and ink, and it’s all about the push and pull of line. The hatching creates the illusion of depth, and the architecture feels both solid and dreamlike. You can almost hear the echoes in this quiet, unassuming back street. Look closely and you can see how the artist varies the weight of the line, creating a sense of atmosphere with relatively minimal means. The open door on the left side is a nice touch, inviting the eye into the scene, and the curve of the street suggests a larger world beyond the edge of the paper. In some ways, this reminds me of the drawings of Giorgio Morandi, who was similarly interested in finding the extraordinary in the everyday. It suggests a process of discovery, of finding new ways of seeing familiar scenes, of openness to possibility.