Dutch West India Company c. 1936

This is Helen Miller's watercolor and graphite drawing, *Dutch West India Company*. It's a simple, almost naive, rendering of an experimental garden. Look closely. The colors are muted, kind of earthy, and there's a flatness to the whole thing, as if it exists more as an idea than a real place. I love how each little garden square has its own personality, its own planting scheme. See the area in the lower left? The lines are all diagonal, like the artist was really thinking about how the vegetables grew in that little space. It reminds me of some of Alfred Jensen’s more esoteric diagrams, with all that geometry. The hand of the artist is so present, in a way that feels really intimate. Miller probably wasn’t thinking too hard about perspective or realism; it’s more about capturing the essence, the feeling of this garden. It’s a memory, maybe? Or a dream of a garden? Art doesn't always have to shout; sometimes, the quietest voices are the most powerful.