Het verdroogde aapje 1916

Gerard Vroom created this etching, "The withered monkey", sometime around 1945. I can imagine him hunched over a table, working with acid, metal, and ink. The work is all in shades of brown— sepia, burnt umber, raw sienna. The monkey is hunched over, seemingly calling out. The etched lines of the image create a sense of decay or deflation, and the creature is skeletal. What kind of mood was Vroom in when he made this? It was made during the last year of his life. I wonder whether Vroom identified with the creature he made—a frail, hollowed-out being, caught between life and death. He seems to be looking directly at us, the viewer, asking us something. Maybe he was looking at works by Goya. There are also resonances with Rembrandt and other artists who have worked in etching. All artists are in conversation, responding to one another's work. The act of looking and responding is the spark that creates new work. It is a mysterious and ever-unfolding process.