Vrouwenhoofd met hoed 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing, "Vrouwenhoofd met hoed", or "Woman's Head with Hat" with an ink pen and paper, letting loose a flurry of lines to capture a fleeting impression. You can almost see the artist's hand moving quickly, trying to keep up with the image in their head. I wonder what Israels was thinking about as they drew? I imagine they were trying to capture not just the woman's appearance, but also something of her spirit. Look at the way the lines dance around her face, suggesting movement, a sense of interiority. Israels is part of a long conversation with artists like Manet, who also explored modern life in these dynamic, gestural ways. Israels gives us permission to see drawing, and painting more broadly, as a site of inquiry, where meaning emerges through the act of creation itself. It's about embracing the ambiguous and seeing where it leads you. It's a kind of visual thinking.