Brief aan August Allebé Possibly 1908

This is a letter by Johannes Hubertus Leonardus de Haas written in ink, and it's all about connection, isn't it? The way the words loop and lean, like they're whispering secrets across the page. I love how the ink pools in certain spots, emphasizing a curve, a pause. It's as if the pen had a life of its own, guided by the hand but also dancing to its own rhythm. You can almost feel the texture of the paper, the slight drag of the nib. There’s a dark bloom where the ink has bled slightly into the page, that sense of the material coming forward, the words themselves becoming almost sculptural. It's easy to imagine de Haas sitting down, maybe late at night, the lamp casting a warm glow as he scratched away at the page. This makes me think about Cy Twombly, you know, all those scribbles and gestures, but here, the gesture *is* the content. Like Twombly, de Haas reminds us that art is about the process, the touch, the human connection in a world that can feel so distant.