Vinterlandskab med popler 1928

Fritz Syberg made this winter landscape with poplars as a drawing. It's all about marks, these tiny lines that together create this sense of a cold, quiet scene. Drawing is such a direct medium, you know? The texture here is all in the lines. Look at how the sky is just hatched with these quick strokes, like the artist was trying to capture the feeling of a heavy, overcast day. The trees are these scribbled masses, full of energy, even though they're bare. Then there's the snow, suggested by these long, sweeping lines that give a sense of the drifts and the cold flatness of the land. The whole thing feels spontaneous, like Syberg was out there in the cold, quickly trying to get the scene down before his fingers froze. Think about Van Gogh's drawings. There is something in the quality of line in the way he captured landscapes that feels similar to this piece. It's like they're both having a conversation across time about how to capture the essence of a place with just a few marks.