Studies van papegaaien 1880 - 1946

Anna Maria Kruijff made these studies of parrots on paper, and what strikes me is the way she's capturing these birds as if she's turning them around in her mind. The lines are tentative, searching, almost like a dance between observation and imagination. Look at the marks, how they seem to build up each parrot from scratch. It's not about perfect representation but more about the process of seeing. The paper itself, with its slight discolorations and age spots, adds a layer of texture, as if the drawing is breathing with its own history. The delicate lines create a sense of softness, almost like feathers caught in the breeze. Notice the way she's captured the curve of a beak or the angle of a wing with just a few strokes. It's like she's trying to understand the essence of these creatures. For me, it brings to mind other artists who use drawing as a way of thinking. Think of Cy Twombly's scribbled lines, or the way Guston built forms out of cartoonish shapes. It's a reminder that art is an ongoing conversation, a way of exploring the world through marks and gestures, and there's no one right answer, just a constant process of discovery.