Optselsom c. 1887 - 1920

This piece, *Optselsom*, by Willem Witsen, features graphite on paper. Looking at the scribbled numbers in the upper right corner, and then again more faintly near the middle, I get the feeling of the artist thinking aloud, using the paper as a place to keep track of ideas. There’s something so intimate about seeing this kind of working out. It reminds me of my own studio, covered in sketches and notes. You can almost see Witsen pausing, pen in hand, figuring something out. Was he planning a larger work? Making calculations for a composition? It’s so minimal, so subtle. The light grey of the paper and the faint graphite lines create a quiet, contemplative mood. It’s like a secret glimpse into the artist's mind, a reminder that art-making is often a messy, uncertain, and deeply personal process. We can think of it like a conversation between artists across time and space, inspiring us to embrace the beauty of the unfinished, the imperfect, and the experimental.