Kalenders voor oktober, november en september 1904 1904

Theo van Hoytema made these calendar designs for October, November, and September 1904 using lithography. Look at the way he's built up these muted, almost ghostly images – they seem to emerge from the surface, like memories. There's this real sense of layering and building, not just with the images themselves, but with the framing devices around each month. It's like he's thinking about time as something constructed, something we build up layer by layer. Notice in the lowest panel, the flock of birds lifting off from the branches. The lithographic crayon gives the birds a hazy, almost dreamlike quality, capturing the fleeting nature of time. Van Hoytema reminds me of Hilma af Klint with his interest in abstraction, a quiet spirituality and symbolism. Both artists embraced experimentation, pushing the boundaries of what art could be, inviting us to question our perceptions and explore the hidden dimensions of reality.