Bloemstudies 1876 - 1951

Theo Nieuwenhuis made this study of flowers on paper at an unknown date using watercolor and graphite. I love the immediacy and vulnerability in this work. The delicate washes of color feel provisional, like they could be swept away at any moment. You get the impression Nieuwenhuis was trying to capture a fleeting moment, almost like sketching a memory. Look at the loose quality of the paint, the texture of the paper, and how the graphite lines are visible underneath. It's clear he wasn't trying to create a perfect rendering. There's a kind of raw energy here, a sense of the artist wrestling with the image and trying to make sense of it. Take the drooping flower to the right. It’s barely there, a smudge of red with a stem… yet it’s so full of life. I think about artists like Odilon Redon who, similarly, used botanical studies to explore their inner worlds. It reminds us that art is not just about what we see, but how we see it.