Brief aan Willem Bogtman Possibly 1932 - 1936

This is a letter to Willem Bogtman, written in 1936 by Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst. I love that we can see the artist's hand so clearly here. It's not a painting, but the act of writing, the pressure of the pen, the way the ink bleeds into the page, it’s all part of the process. Looking closely, you can see the lines vary in thickness and weight, and there’s a real rhythm to the script. It reminds me that language can be a material too. It’s not just about what is being said, but how it looks, how it feels. See how the letters loop and swirl, almost like vines growing across the page? It's easy to imagine the artist in the act of writing, their thoughts flowing onto the paper. Holst was part of a movement of Dutch Symbolist artists and designers. You can see that influence here. I'm reminded of the work of Jan Toorop, another Dutch artist and contemporary of Holst, whose drawings have a similar graphic quality and attention to detail. But here, instead of images, the lines form words and thoughts. It's a reminder that art is always a conversation, a way of thinking and seeing that connects us across time.