Prentbriefkaart aan Andries Bonger before 1908

Here's an old postcard Emile Bernard sent to Andries Bonger, probably using ink on paper. I’m just picturing him writing it, maybe in a café. It's all these cursive marks, looping across the page and all this poetic rambling of what he saw in the French landscape. The stamp in the upper corner—did he lick it, or wet it with a sponge? You just know he was thinking about communicating something real to his friend. Was he aware of his mark-making? Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t. It’s easy to imagine Bernard in conversation with Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Toulouse-Lautrec, exchanging ideas. This postcard seems so personal, and that’s why it resonates. It reminds us that art is not just about high-minded ideals, but also about what connects us in our everyday lives.