Getal 5 1904

Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries made this artwork, called Getal 5, with ink on paper. Doesn't it look like a very ornate tattoo design? I can imagine De Vries hunched over his table, carefully inking in each line of the design. The black ink makes the design pop against the white paper. What I like about the "5" is that it's not just a number; it's a swirl of shapes, a black-and-white dance that almost looks like a floral design. The little dots and the way the lines curve give it a life of its own, don’t they? It reminds me of the work of artists who were really into turning letters and numbers into art back in the early 20th century. I wonder if he thought about how it might inspire others down the line? It’s like artists across time are always chatting, always bouncing ideas off each other. Painting is like this embodied conversation where one artist will try something and then another one will try something else in response. Art isn't about perfection, it's about that conversation.