Man met die zonlicht opvangt met een optisch instrument 1900 - 1903

Antoon Derkinderen made this on paper, with graphite. You can almost hear the scratching of the pencil on the page. It's like a quiet conversation, one line at a time, where a figure seems to be caught up in a curious act, almost alchemical, of trying to capture sunlight with some sort of optical device. I get the feeling that Derkinderen was thinking about how we see, how we try to make sense of the world through instruments, through tools that mediate our experience. He's sketching out the basic shapes and forms, trying to find the essence of the scene, the core of the idea. It’s like he is feeling his way through the dark, groping for clarity. Painters are always looking, always trying to find new ways to make sense of what’s around them, and in the process, make something new. What he made makes me think about the continuous exchange of ideas between artists through time, inspiring one another to experiment and explore.