Kalenderblad april met koekoek 1902

Theo van Hoytema created this calendar page for April with a cuckoo, using lithography. What strikes me about this piece is the combination of soft colors and hard lines; it's as if he’s charting the passage of time through a meadow on a spring morning. Look at how the daisies form a frame, each one so carefully rendered with little strokes of color. It is as if each flower is a moment captured, a testament to the process of nature unfolding. Then there's the bird, perched so alertly. Its form is created from such fine, tiny lines it's almost as if the artist is imitating the texture of feathers. This image reminds me of a kind of Dutch Art Nouveau, something akin to what Gustav Klimt was doing. It embraces decoration, but also the everyday. It suggests art is not just about grand gestures, but in the beauty of a commonplace calendar. There’s a real generosity in that. It’s about celebrating the passage of time, inviting us to find beauty in the ordinary days of our lives.