Zeegezicht met bergen before 1902

This landscape—Zeegezicht met bergen—probably started with a horizon line and then the artist, E. Hauser, built up the composition with layer upon layer of marks, building a sea view with mountains. It feels like Hauser was trying to capture a feeling, the sensation of being near the ocean. I can imagine them thinking about artists who painted seascapes, who took on the challenge of representing the sea. What was Hauser thinking as they made it? Did they feel anxious about being compared to other artists, Turner maybe? How could they translate the way the light sparkled on the waves? That one broad, horizontal stroke across the middle ground of the sea; to me, it speaks to the artist's desire to make something new, something uniquely their own. Artists are always in conversation. We’re all looking, all borrowing, and all transforming what we see into something new. And maybe that’s why painting is so compelling—it’s a record of that messy, human process.