Boerderij in een besneeuwd landschap c. 1884 - 1887

Willem Witsen created this drawing, 'Farm in a Snowy Landscape' using black chalk and graphite on gray paper. Note how the composition directs our eye to the farmhouse, a dark mass against the pale winter sky. The stark contrast immediately evokes a sense of isolation. Witsen masterfully uses line and texture to suggest depth and atmosphere. The rough, broken lines create a sense of volume and materiality in the farmhouse, while the soft, smudged areas suggest the falling snow and the dampness in the air. The diagonal strokes of the graphite hint at the wind across the flat landscape. Considered through the lens of structuralism, the farmhouse and its environment form a binary opposition: the geometric vs the organic. This interplay between form and nature not only represents a landscape but also evokes deeper philosophical ideas about humanity's place within the natural world.