Schets van koeien bij een hek 1854 - 1910

Willem Maris sketched these cows by a fence with pencil on paper. The fence itself acts as a significant visual symbol, demarcating boundaries, not just between fields, but perhaps between the tamed and the untamed, the known and the unknown. In ancient mythologies, fences and gates often mark the transition between worlds. We see this echoed in the gates of Ishtar or even the garden walls of medieval tapestries. In the psychoanalytic sense, the fence could also represent the ego, our conscious barrier between the inner self and the external world. Think of how often artists throughout history have used enclosures to evoke feelings of longing, confinement, or protection. The emotional weight of these themes connects Maris' sketch to a larger cultural memory. This is not merely a depiction of cows; it is an echo of humanity's perennial dance with nature and self-understanding.