Woman's Slipper c. 1940

Virginia Berge's 'Woman's Slipper', is a delicate watercolour drawing, a study in muted blacks, browns, and creams. I imagine her poised over the paper, trying to capture not just the look of the slipper, but its essence. It's a simple object, yes, but look at how Berge coaxes out its form with subtle gradations of tone. The way she models the velvety texture. You can almost feel the soft give of the material. It seems as if Virginia Berge is thinking about what it feels like to wear the slipper; a quiet luxury, a sense of being at home. I love how Berge focuses on the beauty in the everyday. How it reminds us that the act of seeing is always an act of interpretation, of finding meaning in the world around us. Artists throughout time keep looking at each other's work and saying, 'Yes, I see what you mean,' and then going off to make something new, adding to the conversation. And that’s how art keeps going – it keeps becoming.