Kalenderblad augustus met Vlaamse gaai 1903

This calendar page for August, featuring a jay, was made by Theo van Hoytema, but the lack of a precise date feels right: time here is seasonal, cyclical, not linear. There’s a kind of gentle, overall tonality, with soft greens and browns that let the forms emerge without being too loud. It's so subtle, you have to look closely. The bird is the main event, standing proud amidst swirling water. See how the ripples feel almost like sound waves? And those speckled feathers! The artist really let the marks stand for themselves, almost like the bird is dissolving back into the elements. There's a real sense of art being an ongoing conversation here. You can see influences from Japanese prints in the flatness and the focus on nature. Like Utamaro, perhaps. It’s less about perfect representation and more about feeling the essence of August and its creatures. Art like this celebrates the in-between spaces, the parts that aren’t quite defined.