Studieblad met zes naakte vrouwen c. 1903

This sheet of studies with six female nudes was made by Henri Fantin-Latour, we think, sometime in the 19th century. It's a glimpse into the artmaking process, a way of thinking through drawing. There’s something so intimate about seeing these figures rendered in pencil. Fantin-Latour isn't trying to hide his process; the sketch lines are all there, visible, almost like a choreography of gestures. The texture of the paper, the varying pressure of the pencil—it all contributes to this sense of immediacy. The figure on the bottom left, caught in the act of crawling, is fascinating. You can almost feel the graphite against the grain of the paper. It reminds me a bit of Degas, who was also obsessed with capturing figures in motion. Ultimately, this drawing celebrates ambiguity, the beauty of the unfinished, and the ongoing dialogue between artists across time.