Ontwerp voor een vaas 1874 - 1945

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this vase design with ink on paper, though it is undated, it lives at the Rijksmuseum. The brushstrokes are so bold and direct, you can tell this wasn't about perfection. More about capturing the idea, the essence of a vase. Look at how the black ink pools in certain areas, giving depth and shadow, and how the white of the paper peeks through, creating contrast. The ink isn't precious, it's sloshed on with a kind of confident looseness. I love how the lines wobble and thicken – especially that thick dark line at the base. It gives the whole thing a kind of grounded, earthy feel. Cachet's got this graphic punch that reminds me a bit of some Matisse drawings, that same sense of playful simplification. It's like he's saying, "Here's a vase, but it's also just a bunch of lines and shapes dancing together." And that's what art's all about, right? It's about the dance.