Hond met de voorpoten op een leuning after 1915

Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries made this drawing of a dog with its front paws on a railing, with pencil on paper. The dog is kind of splayed out. It's like the artist was trying to capture a casual moment, not posing the animal, just seeing it as it is. And the drawing itself, it's not about perfection. The lines are loose, almost like the artist is thinking out loud. You can see where they've gone over a line a few times, trying to get it just right. I keep looking at the paws. They're kind of clumsy, but that's what makes them so charming. It reminds me that art isn't about getting every detail perfect. It's about capturing something real, even if it's a little messy. I think of Picasso’s drawings of animals. It’s all part of the ongoing conversation that is art. Art, like dogs, is open to interpretation. It's up to you to decide what it means to you.