Studie van een zittend meisje before 1917

Matthijs Maris made this drawing of a seated girl using graphite on paper. There's a ghostliness, a lightness of touch, that makes you feel like it might disappear any minute. I imagine Maris, with his pencil, carefully coaxing this girl out of the blank page, line by line. Did he see her clearly in his mind's eye, or did she emerge bit by bit as he worked? Look at the gentle shading around her face and the way he's suggested the folds of her dress. It's like he's trying to capture not just her likeness, but also her presence, her mood. There's a vulnerability to this drawing, an openness that invites you in. It reminds me of other artists who work in a similar vein, like Paula Modersohn-Becker, who also sought to capture the essence of their subjects with a raw, unvarnished honesty. It’s like they are all in conversation across time, learning from each other, pushing the boundaries of what drawing can be.