Schets van twee mannen bij een ladder 1873 - 1932

This sketch of two men beside a ladder was made by Wilhelmus Johannes Steenhoff, but when, we don’t know! It’s just lines on paper. But it holds a whole scene in its thin strokes. What’s so great about lines? I mean really! So simple, yet, here they describe two figures—one climbing, one observing. What’s going on? What is the narrative here? Is it about work? Are they fixing something? Are they stealing something? The lines are shaky, almost anxious. The artist doesn’t seem so interested in precision. There is a type of image-making that feels closest to thinking. Is it a memory? An idea? The artist's intention? Who knows? These are the most mysterious and delicious things about art: its resistance to explanation.