Briefkaart aan Andries Bonger before 1923

This postcard to Andries Bonger was composed by Émile Bernard using ink on paper. Imagine Bernard hunched over his desk, pen in hand, his thoughts spilling onto the page in a flurry of strokes. You can almost feel the urgency of his message. There’s a real sense of intimacy here, like eavesdropping on a private conversation. What was he thinking as he formed each word, each sentence? Was he aware that his candid thoughts would one day be scrutinized by strangers like us? The dark ink against the pale paper creates a stark contrast, drawing us into the depths of his words. The handwriting itself becomes a kind of drawing, each stroke a deliberate gesture, like a brushstroke in a painting. It reminds me that artists are always in conversation with each other, across time and space, sharing ideas and inspiring new forms of expression. It’s like one big, messy, beautiful painting that we’re all contributing to, one stroke at a time.