Malle Babbe 1930 - 1940

Han van Meegeren painted this Malle Babbe, sometime before his death in 1947, using oils. You can see the layers he built up, especially in the dark background, how he used the paint to create a mood. I wonder what he was thinking, painting this woman with such gusto! Her face is a landscape of mirth, every line etched with life. And the metallic sheen of that tankard—he really nailed that reflected light, didn't he? The paint is worked in such a way that you can almost feel the weight of the metal in your own hand. It reminds me a little of some of those unruly characters you see in Ensor’s paintings. Painters like van Meegeren, like Ensor, remind us that art isn't just about what you see, but what you feel, what you live. It's about the ongoing conversation between artists across time. We are trying to capture a fleeting moment, an emotion, and then letting it go, letting it be reinterpreted by whoever comes next.