Schrijvende vrouw 1870 - 1937

Willem Wenckebach made this watercolor of a woman writing at her desk, and it’s like stepping into a memory. The grays and blacks create this beautiful muted atmosphere, and I can almost feel the quiet focus of the scene. I wonder what she’s writing? Is it a love letter, a diary entry, or maybe something more rebellious? See the discarded papers on the floor; I know that feeling, trying to get the words just right. The artist is so good at depicting the light here and the shadows. There's an intimacy with the subject matter, a gentle acknowledgement of someone in quiet contemplation. Wenckebach did a lot of landscapes, and genre scenes, and this piece is like those, but it's also its own thing, and it reminds me of other artists who capture these quiet domestic moments. It's so personal, and that’s what makes art so engaging – the human connection through time.