Kalenderblad september met goudfazant 1914

This is Theo van Hoytema’s calendar page for September, with a golden pheasant, which I can imagine he made with lithographic crayon. The soft greens and browns are so gentle and inviting. I wonder what it was like for Theo to focus on these birds, to make these drawings. Look at the tiny birds alongside the numbers, like a secret language of movement and time, each creature a subtle marker of the passing days. I like to think he saw something of himself in their twitchy vigilance, the endless preening and the quiet grace of their flight. It reminds me that art-making is a deep conversation, a way for artists to talk to each other across time and space. Each mark, each color choice is a question posed, a response given, an invitation to see the world anew. It’s this ongoing exchange, that keeps pushing us, urging us to explore new territories of feeling and form.