Figuren op een terras 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing, ‘Figuren op een terras’, with graphite on paper. It feels like a fleeting moment, captured in a flurry of marks, as if the artist sketched it very quickly, right there and then! I can imagine Israels sitting on that terrace, squinting in the sunlight, trying to capture the essence of the scene before him. The way he’s used the graphite, so sketchy and immediate, makes me feel like I’m right there with him, sharing that moment. Look at how some lines are so dark and insistent while others are light and almost hesitant, fading into the background. I wonder if he was thinking about other artists like Manet, also known for capturing everyday life, or maybe he was just in his own world, lost in the act of seeing and drawing? It makes you think about how artists, across time, are constantly in conversation with each other, inspiring new ways of seeing and being.