Seated Female Nude 1875 - 1934

Isaac Israels made this drawing of a seated nude, with a pencil, here at the Rijksmuseum. The immediacy of the sketch, the visible process of the artist figuring things out, it's all right there on the surface. Look at the shading around the figure; it's almost like a cloud, giving shape and volume without a hard edge. It is so soft, barely there. Then there are those firm, confident lines defining the body. See how the artist finds the form through a kind of dance between certainty and doubt, between clear outlines and soft smudges. The texture of the paper shows through, integrating the ground with the figure. It reminds me a bit of Degas, in the way he captured these intimate, fleeting moments. Art is never really finished, it's just abandoned, right? This drawing feels like a moment seized, a thought made visible, an invitation to see the world as Israels did, full of movement and life.