Annotaties 1914

Willem Witsen made this annotated page at an unknown date, and the marks have a really intimate feel. I can imagine Witsen in his studio with a brush in hand, testing out colors or maybe just doodling while lost in thought. It's like a little peek into his mind, a snapshot of his creative process. The texture of the paper itself adds a whole other layer, giving the piece a sense of history and depth. And the way the ink sits on the page—some lines thick and bold, others light and wispy—it's all so deliberate, even if it feels spontaneous. Looking at the notations, I wonder what he was working on at the time. What ideas were swirling around in his head? It reminds me of Cy Twombly's scribbled paintings, where the act of writing becomes a form of drawing. Artists are always in conversation with each other, across time and space, riffing on each other's ideas. These annotations are part of that conversation.