Staande vrouw met hoed 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this sketch of a standing woman with a hat, probably on paper, with graphite, who knows when. Look how the lines capture not just the figure but a sense of her presence, her bearing. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving quickly, trying to capture the essence of the woman before she moves, or before the light changes. The hat is just suggested, a few quick strokes that give you the idea without spelling it out, right? I can imagine Israels, sketchbook in hand, maybe sitting in a cafe, watching people go by, trying to distill the world around him into these fleeting impressions. What was he thinking? Was he thinking of Degas? Whistler? Lautrec? Artists are always in conversation with each other, across time and space, riffing on each other's ideas, pushing the boundaries of what painting can be. Israels is part of that lineage, that ongoing exploration of form, light, and human experience.