Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken before 1902

Arnold Koning made this 'Briefkaart aan Philip Zilcken' sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. What I see here, and what I love, is the act of communication itself made visible. You know, that urgent need to reach out and touch someone with words, with thought. The handwriting is almost a drawing. Imagine Koning's hand, the pressure on the pen, the way the ink bleeds slightly into the paper – each stroke a little decision, a little act of will. It's like a dance, a back-and-forth between intention and accident. And then, the stamp! That little burst of green and those almost smudged postmarks, they speak of place and time, of the world moving around this one small message. For me, looking at this card is like looking at a painting. It's not about what it says, but how it feels.