Rivierlandschap met een molen 1919 - 1921

Willem Cornelis Rip made this landscape with a pencil, and you can almost feel the graphite rubbing onto the page. It’s atmospheric, with a grey sky and a subtle horizon line. I imagine Rip outside, maybe near a river, just trying to capture what he sees as quickly as possible. I know how that feels! You want to get the vibe before it goes away. What was he thinking as he sketched this? Was he in a hurry? Did he want to remember this place? Look at the way the marks build up, light at the top for the sky, darker down below. It's a layering of marks to make the composition whole. It reminds me a bit of Whistler, just simple and impressionistic. Artists are always chatting to each other across time, picking up ideas. It's about capturing a feeling, not just what you see, and about what the marks can do themselves.