Dame in expositie 1912

Léon Spilliaert made this absorbing drawing called 'Dame in expositie' with colored pencil. The marks, like little fibrous hairs, accumulate to form color, texture, and tone. I love the way the herringbone floor leads you in like a red carpet and then throws you back out again. But what is she looking at? The woman is obscured, turned away from us, but she's still the main event. Her brown dress and big white collar are more animated than the artworks, which are framed but fade into the background, even though they are ostensibly what this piece is 'about'. It reminds me a little of a painting by Vilhelm Hammershøi, someone else who likes to paint backs of figures, in a muted palette of browns, creams and greys. But Spilliaert is all nervous energy, where Hammershøi has this cool, austere stillness.