Triomfboog c. 1901

This pencil drawing, "Triomfboog," was sketched by Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof at an unknown date, and it's amazing to see the bones of a design laid bare like this. It's all about line, isn’t it? Look how Dijsselhof coaxes form out of simple strokes. The triumphal arch itself is solid, but then the flourish of possible decorative forms are repeated like a musical motif. I think of the way some composers create variations on a theme. What I love about drawings is the sense of touch, the artist thinking through the hand. You can see the ghost of lines where Dijsselhof changed his mind, adjusting the curve of a flourish, the weight of the column. It reminds me of the architectural fantasies of Piranesi, except here the grandeur is tempered by the intimacy of the sketchbook page. It’s less about finality and more about possibility, about the joy of working through ideas.