Twee meisjes bij een voordeur 1916

Nelly Spoor made this image of two young girls by a front door using delicate lines of ink. You can almost hear the scratch of her pen on the paper. I wonder, was Nelly thinking about the threshold between private and public life, childhood and adulthood, as she carefully drew each brick of the wall? Maybe she was remembering her own youth? There's a stillness and innocence in the girl in the doorway, a certain hesitation, that really speaks to me. The other girl, her back turned, seems ready to step forward into the scene, while the open door beckons with a silent invitation. It reminds me of illustrators like Aubrey Beardsley but with this unique tenderness, you know? It’s as if she’s captured a fleeting moment in time, full of anticipation and possibility. We're all walking through those doorways.