Young Woman c. 1918

Édouard Vuillard made this drawing of a young woman in pencil on paper. It's all about the sketch, the bare bones of an idea. You can see how the artist is thinking through the form, circling around the subject, trying to get it just right. The drawing feels like a conversation between the artist and the paper. He’s building the image, layer by layer, figuring out the pose, the light, and the details as he goes. I can almost feel the scratch of the pencil on the page, the artist's hand moving quickly, capturing a fleeting moment. It reminds me of my own process, how I use drawing to work through ideas, to find my way into a painting. There’s something so intimate and immediate about a drawing like this, as if you’re right there in the studio with the artist, watching the image come to life. It's this kind of raw, unfiltered expression that makes you feel a connection to the artist, like you're part of the creative process.