Kaart van Zuid-Holland, 1940 c. 1947

Studio Certo made this map of Zuid-Holland in 1940, and the rendering style, somewhere between graphic design and illustration, makes me think about all the decisions involved in representing a place. The muted colors and delicate linework evoke a sense of nostalgia, but also precision, like a faded memory meticulously recorded. There's a tension between the objective data and the subjective rendering that keeps it interesting. Notice how the rivers, the veins of the landscape, meander with a quiet grace, while the cities and towns are rendered as simple geometric blocks, like a child’s building bricks. It’s in these contrasts that we find the emotional pull of the piece. The overall effect reminds me of other cartographers like Alfred Jarry, for whom a map was an invitation to start thinking. It’s not just about knowing where things are. It's about imagining where they could be.