Brief aan Andries Bonger before 1929

This letter was written in Paris at 15 Quai Bourbon, by Emile Bernard. I am really drawn to the way the text fills the space, like a drawing made of words, the lines leaning into each other, a real sense of intimacy and flow. Look at the way Bernard's words seem to spill across the page, the ink pooling in certain spots, creating darker, denser marks. It’s as if you can feel the pressure of his hand, the speed of his thoughts as he’s writing to Andries Bonger. The loops and tails of the letters almost become abstract shapes, the process of writing becoming this fluid, almost sculptural act. This letter feels like a conversation across time, much like how we find ourselves in conversation with artists of the past, such as Van Gogh. We’re all just trying to figure things out, one word, one brushstroke, one letter at a time.