Brief aan Andries Bonger before 1918

This is a letter Emile Bernard wrote to Andries Bonger, and it’s like looking into someone’s mind, isn’t it? The ink meanders across the page, almost like a drawing. The letters are formed, but not too formed - the meaning is visible, but it isn't always easy. It's like glimpsing into the artist’s thought process. The writing has a real physicality to it, almost like the artist is sculpting the words onto the page. Look at the loops and swirls, the way the ink pools in certain spots and feathers out in others. It's a record of a hand moving, a mind thinking. Bernard’s fellow artist Van Gogh also wrote extensively, sharing his view of the world. What we see here is a kind of a conversation between friends about art, life, death and everything in between, an intimate exchange captured in ink on paper. It is open to interpretation, speculation, a starting point for our own thoughts and feelings.