Molenaar bij een zak meel c. 1910 - 1911

Willem Witsen made this print of a miller with a sack of flour, it is currently in the Rijksmuseum collection. I can just imagine Witsen in the flour mill. There is something so dark about the image, it looks as if the flour dust has settled on the image itself, the very air of the mill seems to be trapped there on the paper. I wonder if Witsen was interested in the geometric beams of the building, or whether he was more drawn to the figure of the miller himself? I love the way he's captured the heaviness of the flour sacks, the texture almost makes you want to reach out and touch them. It makes me think about Van Gogh, who painted the peasants, what conversations did the impressionists have with each other? It's like a dance through time, isn't it? Each artist picking up the thread from the last, weaving it into something new.