He dialed danton-ten-six, Illustration for 'Madeline' 1939

Ludwig Bemelmans made this illustration for ‘Madeline’ with ink and watercolour. I love how the washes of colour describe the forms so economically. It’s all about knowing where to put the marks, and where to leave the page bare. The red floor is a good example. It is rendered with these loose patches of red that bleed into the paper. Bemelmans’ line is confident, but also wobbly, giving everything a charmingly unstable feel. Take that curtain swag on the top left, for instance. The brown ink looks almost translucent in places. See how it bends and curves, like it's dancing? Bemelmans reminds me of Saul Steinberg, another master of the deceptively simple line. Ultimately, both artists share a similar attitude: a belief in the power of art to create its own, slightly off-kilter version of reality.