Brief aan Ina van Eibergen Santhagens-Waller c. 1926

Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst wrote this letter in ink. It looks like a slice of thought, caught in time. I can imagine Holst sitting down, pen in hand, mulling over his thoughts, trying to capture something ephemeral. The words tumble onto the page, some hurried and urgent, others more deliberate. There’s a rhythm to it, a dance between intention and spontaneity. The handwriting itself becomes a kind of drawing, looping and swirling across the surface. The ink bleeds slightly into the paper, creating a soft, textured effect. The few notes in red jump out. I wonder what they mean? It reminds me of Cy Twombly’s calligraphic paintings or even some of the automatic writing of the Surrealists. You see the artist's hand, the very physical act of writing, becomes a form of expression in itself. It’s like he’s not just communicating information but also conveying a feeling, an energy, a mood. I feel like Holst is in conversation with other writers and artists from the past. He is trying to communicate something that is urgent to him.