Brief aan Andries Bonger before 1908

This is a letter in French by Emile Bernard. Look at the loops of the ‘e’s and the way the lines seem to want to keep going, even when the words have stopped. You know, when I look at a piece of handwriting like this, I imagine the hand moving across the page, pressing down, releasing, full of intention. It's almost like a dance, a record of a physical and mental process. I imagine Bernard in his studio, maybe late at night, the scratching of the nib the only sound in the room. It is like a painting, really, a choreography of marks that creates a space for thinking and feeling. He’s there, I’m here, and we’re both trying to figure something out. And maybe that’s what art is, this ongoing conversation across time and space.