Twee vrouwen en een hoofd 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing of two women and a head, sometime between 1880 and 1934, with pen on paper. I feel like I'm looking at something emerging, like a half-remembered dream, or the way a sketch can capture the essence of a thing without pinning it down. You see these scribbled lines, almost hesitant, as if Israels was feeling his way through the forms, letting the figures arise from the ground. It’s all about the process. It reminds me of the way I paint sometimes, starting with a vague idea and letting the painting guide me. Israels must have been in conversation with all kinds of artists, figuring out how to create, how to see. It’s like we’re all talking to each other across time, these paintings are like whispers, echoes of ideas bouncing off each other, constantly changing.