Nieuw-Guineese jager kijkt naar een vertrekkende boot before 1936

This artwork by F. Ockerse depicts a New Guinean hunter watching a boat depart. The hunter, armed with a rifle, stands as a sentinel, a symbol of protection, while the departing boat carries figures into the unknown. The boat itself, a vessel of passage, is an ancient symbol found in diverse cultures, from Egyptian funerary barges to Viking longships. It signifies journeys, transitions, and the crossing of boundaries. Here, the boat's departure stirs feelings of longing or apprehension, mirrored in the hunter's gaze. The act of watching, a recurring motif in art history, speaks to human curiosity and the contemplation of fate. Consider, for instance, Caspar David Friedrich's solitary wanderers, gazing into landscapes that evoke the sublime. The hunter's vigil embodies a tension between action and observation, an emotional and psychological state that transcends time. The viewer, like the hunter, is drawn into the scene, contemplating the ebb and flow of human experience. The symbol of departure is cyclical, a recurring event resonating with our collective memories.