Woman by the Sea 1909

Léon Spilliaert made this drawing of a woman by the sea, we don't know when, and he used what looks like graphite or conté crayon, maybe even charcoal. There's something really interesting about the way he’s handled the surface. Look at the marks, how they build up these planes of color, especially in the water. See how the strokes move horizontally? It's like he’s not just depicting the sea, but almost constructing it, or maybe mirroring the movement of the tides, one stroke at a time. There's a real sense of the hand in this, of process. I love how the figure is almost swallowed by the landscape. If you look closely, you can see how he’s used the same kind of marks to describe her as he has the water. The dark, almost monolithic shape of the woman against the lighter, shimmering sea creates a quiet drama. It reminds me a little of some of Edward Hopper's isolated figures, though Spilliaert has a more dreamlike, symbolist quality. Anyway, it makes you think, right?