Prentbriefkaart aan Willem Bogtman 1925

This is a postcard by Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst to Willem Bogtman, made in 1925. It’s not exactly a painting but in a way it is – it’s got that stamp, the date, the ink, all pressing into the paper. Imagine Holst, maybe he’s got ink on his fingers as he scribbles the address, thinking about his friend. The stamp is like a little painting itself, a burst of red, a tiny portrait, all squeezed into that square. And then there’s the postmark, a blurry circle, like a little gesture marking the passage of time. I love how artists are always in conversation, even through something as simple as a postcard. It’s a little piece of history, a little connection between two people, captured in ink and paper. It reminds you that art is everywhere, in the smallest of things, if you just know how to look.