Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1904 - 1923

This letter to Philip Zilcken was written in 1904 by Frederik Salberg. I imagine him hunched over a desk, scratching away with his pen, the words flowing from his mind onto the page. The ink is pale, almost disappearing into the paper, like a whisper from the past. I wonder what Salberg was thinking as he wrote? The letter is personal, a glimpse into his life and thoughts at that moment. Maybe he paused, pen hovering over the page, searching for the right word, the perfect phrase to convey his meaning. The act of writing itself is a kind of painting. Each stroke of the pen leaves a mark, building up layers of meaning and feeling. Like a painter, Salberg is using his materials to create a world, a moment frozen in time. It reminds me of the letters Van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo, these kinds of intimate exchanges between artists, sustaining and inspiring their creative lives.