Envelop aan Philip Zilcken before 1905

Fernand Khnopff made this envelope sometime around 1905, perhaps using ink or pencil to create the image. There's something incredibly intimate about seeing a personal item like this; it feels like stepping into the artist's world. I imagine Khnopff carefully writing the address, maybe pausing to consider the recipient, Philip Zilcken, and the message inside. Did he consider the envelope a kind of canvas? Perhaps! The stamps, the postmarks—they all tell a story of transit and communication. Look at how the addresses have been crossed out. It makes me wonder about the journey this envelope took. Was it a message trying to find its recipient? Was it an attempt to reach out, to connect, to send a piece of oneself across distance? In a way, all artists are like that—sending messages out into the world.