Landschap, mogelijk een duinlandschap 1881 - 1927

Johan Antonie de Jonge made this landscape drawing with pencil. Look at those dark marks swirling on the left-hand side. They seem to capture a landscape in motion, almost as if he was battling the wind himself out there in the dunes. The landscape is coming into being right before our eyes. I wonder what it was like for de Jonge as he worked? He was probably squinting, trying to capture the fleeting light and shadows. And you see how he left the other half bare? It’s as if the image is still emerging, a reminder that art is always a process of discovery rather than a finished product. It reminds me of other artists who have grappled with capturing the energy of nature. He is in conversation with them all. It is unfinished, unresolved, and utterly alive.