Koeien c. 1905

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet made this drawing called ‘Koeien,’ or ‘Cows,’ with pencil on paper. The first impression is one of lightness and incompleteness. Cachet's lines sketch the essence of form rather than definitive outlines. The composition features fragmented images of cows, accompanied by handwritten text dispersed across the page. These annotations disrupt any conventional reading of the image. This challenges our traditional understanding of space by integrating text and image within the same plane. We see Cachet destabilizes fixed meanings by presenting a workspace of thoughts instead of a finished artwork. It's a study in progress, a glimpse into the artist's process. The formal qualities of the work—its incompleteness and integration of text—function not merely as aesthetic choices but also as part of a broader exploration into the nature of representation and the artist's engagement with his subject.