Begroeiing en een smalle brug in Buitenzorg c. 1921

This is Willem Witsen's "Begroeiing en een smalle brug in Buitenzorg", an etching, and it's all about the blacks and whites, the push and pull of light and shadow. It’s like Witsen is thinking out loud with his lines, scratching them in to see what happens. Looking closely, you can almost feel the scratch of the needle on the plate, especially in the dense foliage to the right. It’s a real material thing, this etching, and that physicality brings a certain emotional punch. See how those dark lines create depth, how they make the leaves seem to bristle with life? And then there's that figure sitting on the bridge, surrounded by all this activity, like a quiet observer. It reminds me a bit of Whistler’s nocturnes, that same moody atmosphere, that sense of a world just out of reach. And just like Whistler, Witsen isn't giving us all the answers. He’s inviting us to get lost in the shadows, to find our own way through the scene.