Vrouw, op de rug gezien 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing, Vrouw, op de rug gezien, with a pencil. Just looking at the gestural marks of the pencil, I imagine him, rapidly sketching on location, trying to capture the essence of the figure before him. You can see the woman’s back, the barest hint of her dress, a suggestion of her up-do hairstyle. The overall effect is of a fleeting impression, an ephemeral moment caught in time. I can imagine Israels watching her, thinking about his artistic heroes like Manet and Degas. The woman is, like, barely there, just the bare minimum of information. The work shares that special something with other artworks - it's like they are all in conversation, across time and space. To me, that's what makes art so vital: that connection with the past, and the possibility of influencing the future.