Nudes at Pool 1919

František Drtikol made this image ‘Nudes at Pool’ with what looks like a charcoal stick. Imagine him hunched over the paper, pressing hard to create these figures, maybe even rubbing with his fingers to get that smoky, blended effect. You can feel the artist thinking about classical sculpture and painting, but he’s also searching for something more psychological, more interior. The figures almost seem trapped in their own space, isolated. What are they thinking? What are they looking at? I wonder if the image is about being lost in thought, the pool becoming a mirror for the artist's own creative process. Like when I make a painting, it’s as if I'm trying to find my way through the dark, searching for answers. And maybe that's what Drtikol was doing too, using his art to ask questions and feel his way towards some kind of truth, or maybe towards some kind of beautiful mystery.