Landschap met koeien 1848 - 1888

This is Anton Mauve's 'Landschap met koeien', a drawing currently residing in the Rijksmuseum. The sketch presents a composition of muted tones and minimalist lines depicting cows in a sparse landscape. The textures are subtly suggested, with the graphite medium lending itself to a soft, almost hazy atmosphere. Mauve’s approach here can be viewed through a structuralist lens, where the landscape is deconstructed into its essential elements—line representing form, shading suggesting depth, with nature reduced to basic components. The cows are depicted with simple, unbroken lines, abstracting their natural forms. This echoes a semiotic reduction, where animals signify more than their literal presence, embodying notions of pastoral life or perhaps a deeper connection to nature. The drawing challenges traditional landscape art by prioritizing form and line over realistic depiction, inviting viewers to contemplate the essence of the scene rather than its surface details. This work doesn't offer fixed meanings, but opens up to reinterpretation based on aesthetic experience.