Ornamentontwerp c. 1901

Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof made this ornament design with pencil on paper, and it's all about the energy of the line. The piece feels like a breath held lightly on the page. There's a delicacy to the drawing, you can almost feel the artist exploring the forms, letting the pencil wander and discover. The paper itself is a material presence, lined and giving the feeling of a page torn from a notebook. Check out those swirling motifs at the bottom – they're like little worlds unto themselves! The whole thing is like a window into the artist's process, it reminds me of the work of Gustav Klimt, that same attention to detail and love of ornamentation. It's a reminder that art is often about the journey, not just the destination, and it’s fine for the journey to remain visible in the work.