Rivierlandschap met molens 1907

Willem Cornelis Rip sketched this river landscape with mills, likely en plein air with graphite on paper. The marks are tentative, searching, each one a record of Rip's process of seeing and translating the scene before him. The texture of the paper is palpable, almost as important as the marks themselves. The graphite is layered, sometimes dense and dark, other times light and airy, suggesting the varying densities of the clouds, the weight of the land, the delicacy of the windmills in the distance. Look closely at how Rip renders the windmills. They're not precise representations, but rather ghostly suggestions, capturing their essence with just a few scribbled lines. This openness invites our imagination to fill in the details, to experience the landscape as a space of possibility rather than a fixed reality. Rip's landscapes remind me of Corot's; they both share a similar sensitivity to light and atmosphere. But where Corot's landscapes are often imbued with a sense of serenity, Rip's have a more restless quality. It's like he's searching for something just beyond the horizon.