Koe bij een hek 1848 - 1888

Editor: This drawing, "Cow by a Fence" by Anton Mauve, was created sometime between 1848 and 1888. It's a simple pencil sketch, almost like a quick study. It's the kind of sketch I imagine someone doing on a peaceful afternoon in the countryside. It looks rather unremarkable on first inspection but possesses the delicate calm of nature captured through impressionistic eyes. What jumps out at you when you look at it? Curator: Well, first off, I'm transported. I feel like I'm standing in that field, squinting in the sun. It's interesting how Mauve uses such minimal lines to suggest so much. What do you make of the open sketchbook layout? The two pages instead of just one? Editor: It does feel more raw, somehow, more like peering into the artist's actual thought process. Maybe this work shows Mauve trying to capture a fleeting moment, or perhaps several versions of it on two facing pages? How does it connect to his place within Impressionism, though? Curator: Absolutely. It highlights the intimacy of impressionism. He's not striving for photorealistic accuracy; he is more so capturing the essence, the *feeling* of that cow, that fence, that light. We are feeling something intensely private through such a simple pastoral landscape. Does it feel, almost, as if he is merely transcribing the sound of nature directly into his art? Editor: That's a nice image! So, not just recording what he saw, but translating what he *felt* into visual form? Curator: Exactly. It's about the subjective experience, isn't it? About feeling deeply even in simple moments, especially if a landscape or, as here, an animal gives you joy. Editor: I'm certainly looking at it in a new light now, and find myself imagining it was Van Gogh's eyes and hands rather than Mauve! Thanks for the perspective. Curator: My pleasure! Now it's time to discover and cherish a painting as singular and beautiful as you are, don't you think?