Olifant naast een kruk c. 1904 - 1906

This is a drawing of an elephant next to a stool by Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof. Made with pencil on paper, it’s a bit like looking at a memory. I like how Dijsselhof uses these soft, almost hesitant lines to bring the elephant into being. You can imagine him feeling his way around the form, letting the drawing emerge through a process of looking and adjusting. What was he thinking as he drew? Was he trying to capture the weight of the elephant, its gentle strength? Or was he simply fascinated by its shape, the way its trunk curls and its ears fan out? There’s a lovely simplicity here, an honesty to the line that reminds me of Cy Twombly. It's about the pleasure of looking, the joy of translating what you see onto paper. It’s this kind of playful exploration that keeps art alive, this constant conversation between artists across time.