Boom c. 1888 - 1901

Editor: This lovely, almost ethereal sketch is titled "Boom," created somewhere between 1888 and 1901 by Anna Catharina Maria van Eeghen. It appears to be pencil on toned paper. There’s a delicate fragility to it, almost as if the tree is fading away, like a half-remembered dream. What's your take on this wispy vision? Curator: Well, isn’t it evocative? For me, it's a whisper, not a shout. I see the bare bones of a tree – the artist isn't trying to give us a botanical illustration; she's showing us what it *feels* like to be under the skeletal arms of winter. The paper itself, that gentle aging, feels like another season adding its own patina. I wonder, what does "Boom" suggest to you? Is it a visual echo, perhaps? Editor: Interesting… I hadn't thought of "Boom" ironically. Perhaps it refers less to the tree itself and more to some fleeting moment in time, captured on the page. I find myself getting lost in the texture of the aged paper, imagining the hands that held it, the light in which it was drawn. Is that the mark of good art, do you think – this invitation to reverie? Curator: Absolutely! Art’s at its finest when it’s a springboard for our own imaginations. Van Eeghen gives us the framework, but the magic happens in the space between the pencil lines and our own personal narratives. We all bring something different to that clearing in the woods. What stories did *you* find rustling among the branches? Editor: I imagined cold winter days and the patience of a quiet artist. It’s really stunning how a simple sketch can evoke so much! Curator: Isn’t it just? A beautiful testament to the power of suggestion, leaving us with a little bit more than it shows.