Ontwerp voor een brief aan koningin Wilhelmina c. 1901

Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof made this design for a letter to Queen Wilhelmina, but we don’t know exactly when or with what. It’s a sketch, really, a flurry of marks with graphite or something like it, a search for the right form and the right words. You can see how his hand moved, almost nervously, across the page. Look at the title he’s planning to give her: “By the Grace of God, Queen.” It’s all there, in potentia, like the promise of a thing rather than the thing itself. And this feels very much of the hand. I find myself drawn to the way the words are so carefully arranged, almost like a pattern. It reminds me of illuminated manuscripts, and yet it’s also so raw and immediate. It’s like seeing the artist’s thought process unfold before our eyes. It puts me in mind of Hilma af Klint, whose paintings also explore unseen realms, but with a very different visual language. Ultimately, this piece is a reminder that art is always a conversation, a dialogue between the artist and the world, and between artists across time.