Landschap bij Yvoir aan de oever van de Maas 1885

Curator: Here we have Auguste Danse’s “Landscape near Yvoir on the Banks of the Meuse,” rendered in pencil on paper in 1885, currently residing here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My initial reaction is one of quietude. The light pencil work gives it a somewhat faded, dreamlike quality. There’s something almost haunting about its simplicity. Curator: It's interesting you say that. Danse was working in a period grappling with significant social change. While he was known for society portraits, these landscapes also reveal his attempt to engage with nature. We see here a clear understanding of composition but also an impressionistic leaning, which contrasts sharply with the more academic style of his portraits. Editor: Absolutely. I’m struck by how the absence of color affects the viewer. We have a tendency to see these kinds of landscape studies in color, whether paintings or photographs. Here, in stark pencil, we are invited to contemplate a place not through vibrant display but rather intimate contemplation of it. The social function then speaks volumes; while some had access to lush colour displays of wealth in portraiture, other landscapes like these signal the reality of quiet working life that others inhabited. Curator: Precisely. Pencil as a medium also lends itself to accessibility. Danse’s choice reflects broader shifts towards democratic forms of representation. A readily available medium could be adopted by anyone to participate in recording, displaying and changing how others perceive it. Editor: Right. I feel drawn to this composition also because it isn't sublime or overly dramatic. Instead, we get a glimpse into an unremarkable location imbued with understated beauty that, nonetheless, conveys how everyday realities shape public identity. Curator: Indeed, and it causes one to reflect on how landscapes have always been interwoven with sociopolitical dimensions of belonging, of working lives being inscribed into visual culture for the first time, a political power play enacted with pencil lines. Editor: Well, this exercise definitely challenges the common misconception that landscapes lack political undertones. It offers a poignant perspective on landscape art through social frameworks of inclusion and erasure. Curator: It truly invites you to look beyond the obvious. I will definitely contemplate what implications are possible for ordinary, sketched landscapes, from now on.