Studie van een jongen 1874 - 1945

This is Carel Adolph Lion Cachet’s ‘Studie van een jongen’ at the Rijksmuseum, a study of a boy, made with graphite on paper. It's all about the artist working and reworking the lines, like a sculptor might chip away at a block of marble. The marks are so tentative, almost like he's feeling his way around the form. Look at the lines around the boy's face, how they flicker and dance. It’s not about capturing a perfect likeness, but about the process of seeing and trying to understand what’s in front of you. The texture of the paper itself becomes part of the drawing, adding to that sense of incompleteness and vulnerability. It reminds me a little of Paula Modersohn-Becker, with that same kind of raw, honest approach to portraiture. I love how it embraces imperfection. It’s like a visual record of a thought process, a conversation between the artist and his subject, and that conversation is ongoing.