Portret van de moeder van de kunstenaar 1877 - 1928

This is Cornelis Spoor's portrait of his mother, made with what looks like charcoal or a soft graphite, and it feels deeply personal, like a fleeting impression. Spoor coaxes out a range of tones with his marks, from a light, smudged grey to dense, dark blacks. It’s the kind of drawing where you can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the paper, building up the image layer by layer. Look at the area around her face, how the strokes are loose and almost scribbled, but they define the space around her. It’s a real balancing act between detail and suggestion. There's a real energy in the way the lines intersect and overlap, creating a sense of depth and volume. The handling of light and shadow is masterful and reminds me of Käthe Kollwitz's drawings, or maybe even some of the more intimate portraits by Degas. It’s a reminder that art is always in conversation with what has come before, and that the best works are those that find their own voice within that dialogue.