Kustgezicht, mogelijk met de watertoren te Scheveningen 1884 - 1927

Johan Antonie de Jonge made this drawing of a coastal view, possibly with the water tower at Scheveningen, using graphite on paper. You can almost feel the wind coming off the sea, can't you? I imagine De Jonge out there, squinting, trying to capture the way the light hits the water, the fleeting moment of the waves. There’s a real tension between the detail of the skyline and the wild hatching of the sea, as if the artist is trying to reconcile the solid world with the fluid one. It’s like he's saying, "Okay, world, I see you, but I’m also going to mess you up a little, pull you apart and put you back together in my own way." And isn’t that what all us artists do? We’re constantly having this conversation with the world, trying to make sense of it, but also trying to make it new.