Drie kinderen kijken naar een gevallen vogel c. 1925 - 1935

A. Tinbergen made this small ink drawing of three children looking at a fallen bird. I find the way the artist uses line in this piece fascinating; it's so simple, but it conveys so much. The drawing has this wonderful balance between detail and openness, the brick wall is densely packed with these tiny, squiggly lines, but the figures of the children are much more open, drawn with longer, flowing strokes. The artist used a fine, consistent line throughout, building up tone and texture through layering and repetition. It’s almost like musical notation, the density of marks creating a certain rhythm. I find that the bird, the fallen bird, is just a dark, smudgy spot in the middle, so small but it's the focus of all this attention. I am reminded of the work of Philip Guston, whose later drawings also used simple means to talk about weighty subjects. What a sensitive and poetic piece.