Brief aan Philip Zilcken before 1918

This is a letter from 1918, written by Rose Imel. The paper is violet, and the ink is a matching dark purple – a kind of intimate colour scheme that makes you wonder about the sender. It’s all about process, isn’t it? The dense handwriting feels like a kind of drawing. Look at the repetitive loops and tight curves – the way the words crowd each other, like a little village seen from above. The letters are dark and opaque, like the handwriting is trying to assert itself on the page. You can feel the writer’s hand moving quickly, as if she is spilling her thoughts onto the paper. There's a frantic energy that’s intriguing. Imel is writing to Philip Zilcken, a fellow artist, and although I don’t know the context, this reminds me of the letters between Van Gogh and his brother Theo. There’s an exchange of ideas, a shared language, and the feeling of an ongoing conversation. Art is like that: an unfinished dialogue that we keep adding to, across time.