Vrouw met hoed c. 1915s - 1925s

Isaac Israels made this graphite drawing, Vrouw met hoed, likely in his sketchbook, sometime between 1880 and 1934. There's a real sense of immediacy to the work; he seems to be capturing a fleeting moment. It's so free and fresh, like he’s thinking with the pencil. Look at how Israels uses line: the marks are confident, almost like he’s scribbling, but they come together to create a really vivid impression of the figure. The varying pressure of the graphite creates depth and shadow, and the hat has this wonderful sense of volume without being overly defined. It's a delicate balance between suggestion and representation. You can feel the influence of artists like Manet or Degas here, who were masters of capturing modern life with a similar sense of spontaneity. Ultimately, it emphasizes how art is a conversation across time, where artists continually build upon and reinterpret the ideas of their predecessors. And you can feel it in Israels work.