Figuurstudies en landschappen met een molen en aangemeerde roeiboot 1870 - 1931

Willem Bastiaan Tholen sketched these figure studies and landscapes, including a windmill and rowboat, in graphite on paper. The windmill, a powerful emblem of industriousness and human ingenuity, stands prominently. The windmill motif has carried great significance across cultures. Consider Don Quixote tilting at windmills, mistaking them for giants - a symbol of misguided idealism. Yet, in the Netherlands, windmills were a symbol of progress and control over nature, a sense of order and purpose in the landscape. This symbol, deeply rooted in the collective consciousness, resurfaces in various forms, embodying different facets of the human experience. Like the ever-changing wind that powers the sails, its cultural meaning morphs and adapts. It touches on both our conscious appreciation of progress and our subconscious fear of the unknown.