Landschap met een boerderij c. 1884 - 1887

Willem Witsen made this pencil drawing, ‘Landschap met een boerderij’, whose date is unknown. The sketch presents a study of a rural scene, dominated by the shadowed form of a farmhouse to the right. Witsen's marks are tentative, as he uses hatching and smudging to evoke the texture and mass of the building and surrounding landscape. The composition is sparse. This creates an interplay between the defined structure and the open, undefined space around it. The formal qualities invite us to consider the broader context of landscape art and its representations of nature. Witsen is not merely depicting a scene; he is engaging with the very act of seeing and recording. This piece challenges traditional notions of perspective and detail, offering instead a more subjective, sensory experience. The drawing’s strength lies in its open-endedness. Its incompleteness invites viewers to participate in the creative process, projecting their own understanding of landscape and form onto its suggestive lines.