La Conscience 1905

Fernand Khnopff made this drawing, La Conscience, with coloured chalks or pastels. You can see the smudging of the marks, like in the woman's hair. It's so delicate. This feels like a process of revealing, building up the image with powdery strokes. Look closely, and you can see Khnopff has built up the image with layers of colored marks, mostly greys, creams, and pinks. The pressure of the chalk varies to create tonal shifts. In the woman's dress, the lines are so fine and close together. It’s like he’s searching for the form. See the pale blue that surrounds her? And the watery yellow in the mirror image? These are like auras of feeling. The mirror image of the woman praying is ghostly, like a memory. Khnopff reminds me of Odilon Redon, who was also interested in dreams and used pastels to create hazy, ethereal images. Artmaking is just a conversation between artists, across time, each adding their own voice. Remember, art isn’t about answers, it’s about questions.