Rivierlandschap met een stadsgezicht 1901 - 1907

Willem Witsen drew this landscape with a city view, using graphite, sometime between 1876 and 1923. You can almost feel Witsen outside with his sketchbook, squinting in the pale light, trying to capture a sense of place. The quick, scribbled lines of graphite create a breezy rhythm as the trees are silhouetted against the open land. The landscape is reduced to just a few simple strokes, a horizon line, and a distant city which is enough to evoke a feeling of spaciousness and solitude. Look at the way he's hatched the shading, how the strokes vary in pressure and direction – it’s like he’s thinking through the act of drawing, questioning, and finding his way. And that signature! Such a fluid, confident gesture which echoes the flowing landscape. This drawing reminds me of other landscape painters, those who seek to capture something fleeting and elusive. It's part of a long conversation among artists, each responding to the world in their own way.