Ondergelopen weilanden bij een dijk 1867 - 1935

Maurits van der Valk made this etching of flooded meadows by a dike sometime in his life. I love the way the subtle variations in tone create this feeling of quiet melancholy. You can almost feel the dampness in the air. Look at the texture he creates using just lines. The marks are so delicate. The grass on the dike is a flurry of tiny strokes, while the water is rendered with longer, horizontal lines, giving it a sense of stillness. There is a broken fence in the foreground. Notice how the reflections in the water are almost as clear as the fence itself. The whole piece feels incredibly fragile, like a memory fading away. I think of Whistler when I see this; an artist who also knew how to do so much with so little. What's so great about art is this ongoing conversation between artists, across time, echoing and responding to one another.