Portret van een onbekende vrouw 1878 - 1931

Heinrich Krabbé made this muted watercolour portrait of an unknown woman with thin layers of pigment on paper. Just imagine Krabbé’s hand moving across the surface, trying to capture the essence of this person. He's trying to trap something slippery here—a feeling of melancholy, perhaps? I love how he renders the woman's gaze; she's not looking *at* us exactly, but somewhere beyond, lost in thought, or maybe just really bored! There's a touch of Vuillard in the way he captures the interior, that domestic space, and the overall effect is so intimate, like we’ve stumbled upon a private moment. I bet Krabbé struggled with this piece, pushing and pulling at the image until it landed, just so. It reminds me that making art is like having a conversation across time and space.