Portret van een onbekende vrouw 1928

This small print of an unknown woman was made by Willem van Konijnenburg, and you can see it as an artifact of the artist’s process. It’s all about these etched, scratchy lines that create this shadowy, intimate portrait. I love how the lines around her head sort of explode outwards, framing her face with this halo of energy. You can almost feel the artist wrestling with the plate, scraping away to find the right form. The details in her face are so subtle, and there’s a kind of quiet intensity in her gaze. She seems to be observing something just out of sight, while being surrounded by all these furious marks. It makes me think of Odilon Redon’s dreamlike charcoal drawings, but with a harder edge. Both artists create an atmosphere of mystery and invite us to get lost in the image. Art is about experimenting, pushing boundaries, and embracing the unexpected.