Portrait of the Marchesa Casati 1912

This drawing of the Marchesa Casati, by Léon Bakst, feels like it was made with charcoal or graphite. I love how the hair has this almost sculptural quality, like the artist was carving into the page to create these curls, each stroke building up to a mass of dark waves. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving back and forth, layering and defining. There's this nervous energy in the marks, like he's trying to capture something fleeting, not just an image, but a feeling, a mood. And those eyes! They pierce right through you. You know what? I bet Bakst was totally mesmerized by the Marchesa. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Imagine him, caught in the act of looking, trying to capture her essence, her spirit. I know that feeling, that desire to hold onto something beautiful, something powerful, and to somehow translate it into art. That’s what all us artists are doing, really, trying to make sense of the world, one mark at a time.