Gateway 1911

Roberto Montenegro made this drawing of a gateway in 1927, the lines etched across the paper like whispers of a dream, or memories of a distant place. I can almost feel the artist, standing there, squinting at the light filtering through the ornate bars of the gate. Was he thinking about what lies beyond? About forbidden places or secret gardens? I imagine him, hunched over his paper, the pen dancing across the surface, each stroke deliberate, yet somehow free. Notice how the stone and foliage are textured with densely packed, tiny lines. The gate looms large, yet we can glimpse the mysterious scene beyond. For me, the most important question about art is always: What will I do next? What will you do? Maybe Montenegro was asking himself the same thing. And maybe that’s what art is, one artist in conversation with another across time, inspiring each other to keep going.