Meanderende rivier 1939 - 2009

This drawing of a river was made by Kees Stoop, sometime during his lifetime, with what looks like charcoal or graphite on paper. I like to imagine Stoop standing on the bank, squinting, blocking out the sun with his hand, and trying to capture the essence of the water’s movement with quick, assured marks. You can see how the marks cluster together to form the foliage on either side, a kind of shorthand for what's really there. It reminds me of the way painters like Corot or even Agnes Martin would find the sublime in simple, almost minimalist gestures. There’s a real stillness here too, but also a sense of potential energy, like the river is about to burst its banks or something. It makes you think about how a drawing can be a place of meditation, a way to slow down and really look at the world. And how artists, through their own looking and mark-making, invite us to do the same.