Child's Dress c. 1938

Lucien Verbeke made this study of a ‘Child's Dress’, and it’s all about process. You can see how the watercolor paint interacts with the paper, soaking in and bleeding softly at the edges of each stroke. The whole image is built from these vertical lines, like a drawing that wants to be a painting but doesn’t quite know how. I love how the red and white stripes give the dress volume and shape, suggesting its folds and curves without ever feeling too precise. The thin, watery paint feels delicate, almost ephemeral, as if the dress might disappear if you look at it too closely. The gold trim adds a touch of formality, but the overall effect is light and airy, like a half-remembered dream. This piece reminds me a little of Agnes Martin’s subtle grids – a quiet exploration of color, line, and the joy of simple, repetitive gestures. It embraces its ambiguities, letting the image emerge slowly from the marks on the page.