Vinterlandskab med popler 1928

Fritz Syberg made this winter landscape with poplars as a drawing, using pen and ink. The hatching gives it a kind of graphic feel. Imagine Syberg, quickly and freely making marks on the page – he’s not trying to be perfect, just trying to get the essence of the scene down. The energy of the lines in the sky, they are so alive and vibrant. The ink doesn’t lie, you know? The hand has to commit. It's like he's feeling the cold wind and trying to capture the feeling of a storm in the landscape, all through these linear marks. And those bare trees! So simple and economical, rendered with just a few strokes, but they evoke a sense of winter's starkness. Syberg was part of the Funen Painters group of Danish artists. You can see how this drawing comes from an artist deeply invested in their local surroundings. He is in conversation with the landscape and with other painters.