Les enfants pauvres devant l’âtre avec leurs jouets de la Saint-Nicolas 1918

This is Les enfants pauvres devant l’âtre avec leurs jouets de la Saint-Nicolas, by Léon Spilliaert, and it looks like it's made with some kind of printmaking technique. The whole image is built up from tiny, hatched strokes. There's a real sense of depth and atmosphere created by these small marks that make up the larger composition. Looking closely you can almost feel the warmth of the fire, even though the colors are fairly muted. Notice how the flickering flames are suggested with just a few, quick strokes of orange and yellow. The walls and floor appear to merge into a single flat plane, while a sense of depth is still retained in the way that the artist has positioned the figures. It's like a dream, where everything is both familiar and slightly out of reach. Spilliaert makes me think of Edward Hopper, who also used a limited palette to evoke a sense of loneliness. Ultimately, both artists invite us to look deeper, to find beauty in the ordinary, and to embrace the multiple interpretations that art can offer.