Brief aan Ina van Eibergen Santhagens-Waller c. 1878 - 1938

This letter to Ina van Eibergen Santhagens-Waller was written by Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst, probably with a simple pen on paper. Look at the texture of the page and the almost translucent quality of the writing. The ink is applied so thinly, yet each stroke is so deliberate. This gives you a sense of Roland Holst’s art-making as an active process of revelation and careful consideration. The pale grey colour creates a ghostly, ethereal quality. Each word carries a lot of weight, and the lines lean on one another for support. Notice how the loops in the script create a sense of flow and movement. The letters almost seem to dance across the page. The overall impression is of fragility, yet there is a strength in the repetition of the lines and their proximity to one another. You could compare this to the work of Cy Twombly. Both were fascinated by the relationship between writing, drawing, and the materiality of their chosen medium. And as in any good work, meaning is held in the balance, open to many interpretations.