Ontwerp voor raam in het Noordertransept in de Dom te Utrecht c. 1934

This is Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst’s design for a window in the Dom of Utrecht, made with what looks like gouache or distemper. I wonder what it was like for Holst to work on these muted, earthy tones, mixing ochres, browns, and tans. I imagine him layering the colours in thin washes, each layer subtly shifting the hue and intensity. Then he must have painstakingly outlined each shape in black, to give definition to the composition. There’s something powerful about the raised hand. It’s set against a rough brick wall, but divided into sections, almost like stained glass itself. It feels solid, monumental, yet fragile too. Holst's design connects to a longer history of artists using abstraction to convey emotion and meaning. Like him, they were also thinking about how art could shape our experience of the world. And here we are today, still in conversation with them. Painting offers a way of seeing, thinking, and feeling that embraces uncertainty and ambiguity, allowing for multiple readings and meanings.