Landschap met gezicht over water langs bomen 1903

Pieter Ras made this landscape with a view over water near trees in pencil, sometime around 1888. The image is so immediate – it’s all about process. You can see the layering, the directionality of the marks, the hatching that makes up the shadows on the water. I think of drawing as a kind of thinking, a process of exploration. Here, the materiality is all. The grain of the paper, the varying pressure of the pencil – it all adds to the image's texture and depth. Look at the way he renders the foliage, so light and airy, versus the dense, almost vibrating surface of the water. It’s like he’s feeling his way through the scene, letting the pencil lead him. There is one dark mark under the foliage which is barely visible but really adds depth and solidity to the scene. For me, Ras’s image is a bit like a Turner, all about capturing a fleeting moment, a mood. I imagine Ras standing by the waterside, quickly sketching the scene before the light changes. There is nothing overworked here, only a beautiful spontaneity.