Liggende poes en een poes met een kitten in een mand c. 1892

Julie de Graag made this drawing, depicting a reclining cat and another with a kitten in a basket, with a restrained hand using graphite on paper. The composition isolates the cats against a stark, empty background, emphasizing their forms and textures. De Graag masterfully uses hatching and tonal variations to define the volumes of the cats, with darker shades suggesting depth and shadow. The contrast between the defined shape of the reclining cat and the more abstract, sketch-like rendering of the cat with kitten engages with the formal interplay between representation and abstraction. The kitten is barely visible, a shadowy presence discernible only by its luminous eyes, challenging our perception and playing with the semiotic relationship between visibility and presence. This work uses the economy of means to prompt viewers to contemplate the interplay between the seen and unseen.