Zithoek met gordijnen c. 1895 - 1910

Léon Laroche made this print of a "Zithoek met gordijnen" or "Sitting area with curtains", and you can see the delicacy of the etching process that the artist employed. Look at how lightly he must have touched the plate to create this image! I can imagine Laroche bending over the copperplate, carefully etching those tiny lines. There’s a kind of quiet dedication in it, the slow, deliberate way the drawing accumulates, line by line, to create that scene of elegance. The composition feels almost photographic, like a snapshot of an antique dollhouse. There’s a softness to the colors that suggests a dreamlike quality, an idealized vision of domestic life. I love the way the light filters through the curtains. It reminds me of the work of Pierre Bonnard with his intimate interiors, and quiet moments of observation. All artists—we're all just looking, looking, and trying to capture something real.