Eens een gezelschap in Holland bestond before 1942

Henk Hartog made this watercolor and ink work sometime before 1942, leaving us with a ghostly, poetic fragment. The color palette is muted, almost like a faded memory, with delicate blues and browns creating a sense of ethereal lightness. The washes of color and subtle details reveal Hartog’s intimate process. The paper is allowed to peek through, creating a dance between what’s there and what's not. Look at the child’s face, the way the blue eyes seem to emerge from the pale ground. It's like a half-formed thought, a whisper of a person. The blotches of brown ink at the bottom corners feel like accidental stains, adding to the work’s vulnerability. Hartog’s work reminds me of Odilon Redon’s dreamlike paintings, where figures and objects dissolve into hazy atmospheres. This isn't about capturing a perfect likeness, but about embracing the ambiguity and ephemerality of life itself.