Achteroverleunende naakte vrouw met gekruisde benen before 1925

Aristide Maillol made this drawing of a reclining nude with crossed legs using graphite on paper. What I find myself drawn to here is the softness of the graphite, the way it's been layered to suggest the volume and weight of the figure. You can almost feel the give of the surface she's resting on. Look at the way Maillol uses hatching and cross-hatching to build up the shadows, especially around her hips and torso. It's like he's sculpting with the pencil, finding the form through a process of addition and subtraction. And notice how the lines are denser in some areas, creating a sense of depth and recession, while other areas are left lighter, more airy. Maillol's focus on the human form, particularly the female nude, reminds me of Renoir, but there's also something very modern about the simplicity and directness of his approach. It's a conversation across time, where artists build on each other's ideas and push the boundaries of what's possible. For me this drawing is less about capturing a likeness, and more about exploring the beauty and complexity of the human body through the act of drawing itself.