Tak orchideeën 1874 - 1945

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this study of orchids with a soft pencil. I love that the background is a solid cloud of darkness. The orchid, so delicately rendered, emerges from this blackness, becoming something precious. You can see the artist was investigating how to represent this flower. It is an intimate dance of looking and responding. I wonder if he had other drawings. Was he trying to get the flower just right? He’s really thinking with his hand, you know? The smudges on the paper tell of the studio—of the artist at work. I see the ghost of Manet in this drawing, and maybe, the orchids of Georgia O’Keeffe. It reminds me that artists are always in conversation, building on what came before. It is like we are all pollinators, carrying ideas from one flower to another.