Naaktstudies 1892 - 1916

Rik Wouters made these nude studies, with ink on paper, and honestly, it feels like he was chasing something. The marks are so immediate. You know, that kind of speed is all about trying to catch a feeling, not just a likeness. The thing that grabs me here is how little it takes to say so much. Look at the economy of line, especially in the figure on the left. Just a few strokes, but they give you the weight of the body, the gesture of the arm. It's like Wouters is showing us the essence of form, stripping away anything unnecessary. It makes you realize how much information we can process from so little visual data. For me it's like looking at a Matisse drawing, all about finding the most direct route to expression. I think, in the end, art is about that search, that conversation across time, each artist responding to the last, trying to get closer to some kind of truth.