Vogels in vlucht c. 1920

Johan Antonie de Jonge made this drawing of birds in flight with graphite on paper. It looks like he was trying to capture the essence of flight, not the specifics of each bird. You can see the ghost of erased marks, so you get a sense of his process, the decisions made and unmade. The paper has this beautiful pale warmth to it, which makes the gray graphite marks feel soft, like a memory. There's this one bird, near the bottom, that’s a little darker, more scribbled. It's like he was searching for the right form, the right gesture to convey movement. The other birds are less defined, more like suggestions of birds, echoes of flight. It reminds me a bit of Cy Twombly's drawings, where the line is more about feeling than about perfect representation. It's as if de Jonge is saying, "Here’s what it feels like to watch birds fly," rather than, "Here are some accurate depictions of birds." And in that ambiguity, there’s a real beauty.