Pepita steekt de vingers in haar oren terwijl een man tegen haar praat before 1948

This drawing, made by Hans Borrebach, probably with ink and pencil, shows a woman covering her ears while a man talks to her. Borrebach's style is so clean, so graphic. He wasn’t trying to trick us into seeing something real. It’s almost like he’s saying, “Here, this is how it felt, not how it looked." I sympathize with Pepita. I mean, who hasn't been there? The guy goes on and on, and all you want to do is tune him out. The dark lines that form the man’s suit and the woman’s dress create a pattern that almost feels claustrophobic, like the words are closing in on her. The black pillow seems to be sucking up all the light, adding to the sense of being trapped. It reminds me a bit of Philip Guston's later work, where he used simple shapes and lines to convey complex emotions. Artists are always in conversation with each other, even across time, inspiring new ways of seeing and feeling. Ultimately, this piece is more about feeling than seeing, and that’s what makes it so relatable.