Studie voor het portret van dr J.Th. de Visser, minister van O.K. en W. 1918-1925 1925

Huib Luns painted this study for a portrait with oils, around 1925. It's not about splashy colors or wild strokes here. It's all in the subtle shifts of tone, that quiet, grayed-out palette. I can almost feel Luns, stepping back, squinting, trying to capture just the right glint in those glasses. The way the gray background sort of creeps into the edges of the figure, it’s like he’s trying to pull this guy out of the ether. It’s like he’s saying, “Okay, who are you, really?” I think of other portrait painters like Alice Neel, always chasing after that raw, honest spark. It's like they’re all in this big, ongoing conversation, each adding their own little brushstroke to the story of what it means to be human. And that’s what keeps me coming back to painting, that messy, imperfect, beautiful search.