Promenade Dress c. 1937

Lucien Verbeke painted "Promenade Dress" with watercolor and graphite. Just imagine Verbeke's hand moving across the page, trying to capture the drape and fall of fabric. He has produced a beautiful blue frock, complete with a collar, frills, and flounced sleeves. To the right, a ghostly sketch mirrors the image, like a half-remembered thought, or maybe it's a study of an earlier iteration? I wonder if Verbeke imagined someone wearing this dress, strolling through a park, feeling the breeze catch the fabric. I love the delicate stripes and the way the blue shimmers. It reminds me of Agnes Martin's grids, but softened, made more human. Both artists, though, explore rhythm and pattern. What does it mean when these forms are applied to a dress rather than a minimalist painting? Artists are always responding to each other, across time and medium. The act of painting—or drawing—is an exchange, a conversation that invites us to see the world anew.