The Open Door 1945

Léon Spilliaert made this mysterious drawing, The Open Door, with ink, pencil, and pastel on paper. There is an investment in the drawn mark here. It is built up of thousands of tiny strokes, an almost obsessive commitment to process. Look closely at the way Spilliaert teases out the textures and atmosphere. The wall on the left seems to vibrate with the energy of the marks, while the figure maintains an enigmatic stillness. The door is at once an opening, a passage, and a flat surface. It is so hard to tell which direction she is facing! That small detail of the figure leaning into the wall is so telling. It speaks of the isolation that also comes to mind when considering the work of Edward Hopper. Like Hopper, Spilliaert captures the mood of a fleeting moment. These are paintings that let us embrace ambiguity and multiple interpretations over fixed meanings.