Women in the tavern 1903

Frantisek Kupka made this small drawing of women in a tavern with pen and ink, we don't know when. Just look at these marks! Up and down, back and forth, this drawing isn't about perfection or accuracy, but about something else. I can almost feel Kupka's hand moving across the paper, trying to catch the light, the shadow, the mood of the room. You know, there’s a kind of restless energy in those lines, like he’s not just depicting a scene but also thinking through it. It's all so immediate. I can imagine him, sitting in that tavern, quickly sketching to capture the moment. What’s amazing is how with so few strokes, Kupka manages to capture the whole scene. Painters are always in conversation with each other, even across time. What I love about painting is that it's never really finished, right? There's always room for another layer, another interpretation, another point of view.