Kalenderblad mei met twee duiven 1905

Theo van Hoytema made this calendar page for May with two doves at the Rijksmuseum, and you know what? It makes me think about the quiet labor involved in so much art making. Look at the surface, you can see the way he must have slowly built up the image, stroke by stroke. The density of those marks! I can just imagine him, day after day, with his pen, building this world, the way you might build a nest. I wonder if the repetition became meditative, almost like keeping a diary. It's not a flashy piece, but there's a sincerity here that gets to me, especially the thought that he’s part of this long line of artists responding to nature, to life. He’s connected to me, and I'm connected to him now. I'm part of the conversation too.