Forest Valley with Wood Logs 1894 - 1895

Ľudovít Čordák created this landscape, Forest Valley with Wood Logs, with delicate brushstrokes. Look closely at the wood logs, their stacked formation reminiscent of ancient ziggurats, symbols of mankind's attempt to reach the heavens. Similar shapes can be traced through history, from the Tower of Babel's ambition to the organized stacks in modern industrial landscapes. We see echoes of this form in artistic depictions of societal structure. The vertical stack carries with it a deeply embedded notion of order, and the human drive to control and organize the natural world. There is a primal desire to build, to create permanence from ephemeral materials. This emotional relationship with the landscape suggests a psychological drive to dominate nature, but it simultaneously reflects our dependence upon it. The forest, a source of comfort and fear, is thus inextricably linked to the human psyche. The image is a potent expression of our complex relationship with the world around us.