Huis tussen de bomen 1890 - 1946

Cornelis Vreedenburgh created this sketch, “Huis tussen de bomen,” meaning “House among the trees,” using graphite on paper. I can imagine Vreedenburgh quickly drawing and redrawing each line, building up a whole out of fragments of marks. It feels like he’s trying to figure out the essence of the scene, but he’s also interested in something else. Look at the human face sketched at the bottom of the page; it’s as if Vreedenburgh is thinking about how both a landscape and a face can be constructed out of simple lines. What does it mean to reduce something complex into these essential shapes? Is it an act of simplification, or does it reveal something deeper? For me, this piece is like a conversation between different ways of seeing. Vreedenburgh is in dialogue not just with his immediate surroundings, but also with other artists and their ideas, constantly questioning and reimagining the possibilities of representation.