Twee keer dezelfde man met een platte pet, op zijn handen vooroverleunend c. 1938

Here we have a drawing by Henk Henriët, made with pencil, showing two versions of the same man leaning forward on his hands. Henriët seems to be trying to find his way into the subject through the act of drawing itself. Look at the mark-making. It's all about these tentative, searching lines that build up to form the figures. The surface of the paper peeks through, giving the whole thing a sense of lightness, of not being too precious. There’s a real sense of the artist figuring it out as he goes along. What I love about this piece is the way it captures a fleeting moment, an ephemeral quality. The lines are so delicate, so unsure of themselves, and the repetition almost suggests movement, a sense of time passing. You could almost imagine Egon Schiele making something like this, that same raw, expressive line, that same interest in capturing the human form in all its vulnerability. Ultimately, it’s a reminder that art is a conversation, a dialogue across time and space, with no fixed answers.