Brief aan Philip Zilcken Possibly 1900 - 1918

Jan Toorop wrote this letter to Philip Zilcken in 1900, likely with ink on paper. The marks are delicate, almost spidery, and they dance across the page like a carefully choreographed improvisation. You can see the little squares of the paper underneath, each one a quiet witness to the unfolding thought. The letter feels incredibly intimate. It's not just about the words; it's about the way the ink pools and thins, the pressure of the pen, the tiny variations that make it undeniably human. The writing has a texture all of its own, a landscape of rises and falls that echoes the emotions behind the words. Look closely, and you can almost feel Toorop’s hand moving across the page, caught in the act of sharing a piece of himself. It reminds me of Cy Twombly's scribbled paintings, where language dissolves into pure, ecstatic mark-making. Both artists remind us that art is just this continuous conversation, a way of reaching out across time and space with our messy, beautiful, and unfinished thoughts.