Man in een mantel met een parasol en sigaar c. 1928 - 1930

Here we have Otto Verhagen's 'Man in een mantel met een parasol en sigaar', a sketch made with crayon. Look at the way Verhagen layers color to build form, it's like he’s thinking through the marks, feeling his way around the image. The texture is raw, immediate. The red mantle is just these vertical strokes, like rain. And then the blue scribbles behind him. He hasn’t blended anything, you can see every mark, every decision. The umbrella is fascinating, a burst of pattern that hints at another world, perhaps just a whimsical flourish. This kind of directness, where the process is visible, is something I always find myself drawn to. I think of Philip Guston, in the way Verhagen isn't afraid to leave it all on the page, to keep the awkwardness, and the immediacy. It’s a reminder that art is an ongoing dialogue, full of possibilities.