Figuren aan zee 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing, Figuren aan zee, with graphite on paper. The strokes of the graphite sketch out the basic composition and the presence of figures, who are almost dissolved by the landscape. I feel for the artist, standing outside, squinting in the sun, trying to capture everything with just a few lines. Look at the horizon line, and how the graphite softly creates dark, moody weather; it makes me think about the difficulty of fixing something as unstable as the weather. The artist has chosen to focus on the horizon and the light, rather than the details of the figures who are merely impressions. There’s an ongoing exchange of ideas across time: drawing is just this simple, the act of trying to fix the movement of a feeling in a moment, and sometimes it feels like a failure, but that failure is also beautiful.