Gezicht op een landschap met bebouwing c. 1901 - 1927

Johan Antonie de Jonge sketched this view of a landscape with buildings using graphite. It's a great example of how artmaking can be a real-time process of discovery. The texture in this piece is all about the surface of the paper coming through, it allows for a certain kind of light and airiness, that feeling of being right there, en plein air. I keep coming back to the way the artist uses the side of the graphite to create these blurry, almost atmospheric effects. Take a look at the tree in the foreground on the right side, it's not just an outline, it's got this kind of density, a real sense of presence. It reminds me a little of some of the early landscapes by Mondrian, the way he was feeling his way towards abstraction through careful observation of nature. Art’s all about the conversation, you know, what one artist picks up from another. It’s never about a single, fixed meaning.