Arbeiders op hooiwagens bij een schuur 1913 - 1917

Alexander Shilling made this drawing of workers on hay wagons by a shed, with what looks like a graphite stick, or maybe a very soft pencil. It's so casual it's like he's just doodling, right? Look at how he uses these long marks, almost like bundles of sticks, to create the texture of the hay. Then he uses the same technique to build up the walls of the shed. It's all about the rhythm of those marks, the way they repeat and overlap, that gives the image its energy. Take those scribbled lines in the foreground, they could be anything really, weeds, long grass. But they give the whole scene depth, and they pull your eye back into the space of the drawing. This reminds me of Van Gogh's drawings, the way he used a reed pen to make these incredible landscapes out of tiny marks. It's just lines on paper, but it's also a whole world.