Brief aan Henriette Wilhelmina van Baak en Philip Zilcken Possibly 1921

This letter was written by Anna Sologoub to Henriette Wilhelmina van Baak and Philip Zilcken on the 26th of December. I imagine Anna sitting at a simple desk with pen and paper and maybe a cup of tea nearby. The handwriting is neat and stylish, but the torn edges of the paper tell a different story. The letter's surface is matte, soft to the touch, and the ink is a deep black. You can see the pressure of the pen in certain strokes, indicating her feelings. I imagine her pausing, mid-sentence, perhaps thinking hard about the right words to use. I wonder if she wrote multiple drafts or was this her only attempt? Maybe she was just writing what came to her without revision. The letter could be a painting. Just as in painting, Anna layers thought upon thought and meaning upon meaning. This is her way of communicating, of putting her emotions and intentions into words. Even the act of writing is a way of painting a picture of her world, inviting us to look at it and feel it with her.