Stilleven met kruik en fruitschaal 1896 - 1944

This still life with a jug and fruit bowl was etched by Emilius Wilhelmus Dehé sometime in the early 20th century and is now here at the Rijksmuseum. The tight cross-hatching reminds me of Seurat's pointillist paintings, but Dehé allows for a much more chaotic effect. I can imagine him hunched over the plate, digging into it with his etching needle. The image hovers somewhere between realism and abstraction. There's a softness to the fruit, suggesting ripeness and decay, as if the artist were pondering the transience of life. Maybe he's thinking about Chardin? Or maybe he's just hungry. I see this as part of a larger artistic conversation, each artist building on the work of those who came before, adding their own voice to the mix. Every painting becomes a record of the artist's encounter with the world, their way of making sense of things.