Vrouw met hoed, op haar buik liggend 1875 - 1934

This is Isaac Israels' "Vrouw met hoed, op haar buik liggend", or "Woman with hat, lying on her stomach" made with pencil on paper, that lives here in the Rijksmuseum. It's so full of energy, right? The immediacy of the marks—the way they build up, layer over each other—it's like peeking into Israels' thought process. Look at the cluster of lines that form the woman's face, how they almost vibrate with a kind of nervous energy. There's a real sense of the artist trying to capture a fleeting moment, that sense of trying to pin something down. It reminds me of Rodin's drawings, the way he used line to suggest form and movement, that emphasis on gesture and the trace of the hand. Both artists seem less interested in perfect representation than in capturing the raw energy of life. And maybe that’s what art is all about, you know? Not about answers, but about questions, about embracing the beautiful mess of it all.