Liggende man en een lezende vrouw tegen een duin c. 1930 - 1940

Otto Verhagen made this drawing, 'Liggende man en een lezende vrouw tegen een duin' with pencil, pen and brush in brown and colored crayon. Look at that lying man and reading woman nestled against a dune, barely visible to the eye. I imagine Verhagen in the act of painting outside, quickly capturing the hazy atmosphere of the beach. Notice how the bodies are softly sketched with diluted strokes of crayon, capturing the pale light and stillness of the scene. See how he has rendered the shadows with pen and brown ink. There is a tenderness in these marks. I always wonder when I look at work like this, whether these quick notations ever became larger paintings. It’s as if this drawing contains the possibility of other paintings within it. This piece reminds me that we artists are always in conversation, exchanging ideas, and inspiring each other’s creativity across time. Painting is a form of expression that embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple readings.