Promenade Dress c. 1937

This is Lucien Verbeke’s ‘Promenade Dress,’ made at an unknown date with what seems to be graphite and watercolour on paper. Look how the artist has layered these cool, watery blues and greys, building a sense of volume and texture. You can almost feel the fabric of the dress. I'm really drawn to how Verbeke uses these horizontal and vertical lines to create a plaid-like pattern, giving the dress a sense of depth and movement. It’s like he's thinking about the dress not just as a static object, but as something that exists in space. I notice this interesting contrast between the detailed rendering of the dress on the left and the more schematic sketch on the right – a peek behind the curtain of artmaking. Verbeke’s technical skill reminds me of other realist draughtsman, like Adolph Menzel. But what sets Verbeke apart is the way he invites us to imagine the dress in motion, swirling and swaying as its wearer takes a stroll. Art’s not about fixed meanings, but a constant back-and-forth, an exchange of ideas.