Ontwerp voor raam in het Noordertransept in de Dom te Utrecht c. 1934

This is Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst's design for a window in the Dom Church in Utrecht, made with chalk, charcoal and watercolour. The way he's laid down the colours feels so intuitive, not too labored, like he’s really enjoying the process. Looking at the texture, the strokes are really visible, especially in the grey areas, it's almost like he's sketching with colour. You can really see the grain of the paper coming through, which gives it a kind of raw, unfinished quality. See that brick-like shape down in the left corner, the red really pops and draws your eye in. I love how he's used that strong black line to define the shapes, almost like leading in a stained-glass window. Holst reminds me of artists like Marsden Hartley, who also played with bold shapes and simplified forms to convey emotion. It's a testament to how artists build on each other's ideas, creating an ongoing conversation across time. It's all about embracing the ambiguity and multiple interpretations.