Briefkaart aan Jan Veth Possibly 1902 - 1907

This is August Allebé's postcard to Jan Veth at the Rijksmuseum, carrying with it all the marks of its journey through time. I can just imagine Allebé holding the card, the pen scratching across its surface, each word a deliberate stroke, just like applying paint to canvas. The looping script feels so personal, so intimate. He’s speaking to another painter, so he’s probably thinking about colour, form, and maybe even sharing some gossip about other artists! There's a vulnerability in sharing your work, your thoughts, with another artist. You see their work as a mirror of your own efforts, your own struggles. The various stamps and postmarks act a bit like layers of paint, each one telling a story of movement, of distance, and the desire to connect. Allebé’s practice – like any artist’s – exists in conversation with his peers. He is speaking to Veth, but also to the generations of artists yet to come. And it's those conversations across time that really make art so alive, don’t you think?