Kasteel in een bos 1867 - 1910

Etha Fles created this etching, "Kasteel in een bos" – or "Castle in a forest" – using delicate lines to evoke a sense of mystery. Fles was deeply involved in the late 19th and early 20th century art scene in the Netherlands, and was one of the founders of the Hague Art Circle. This landscape is rendered in muted tones which invite reflection on the relationship between nature and civilization. The castle, usually a symbol of power and authority, is softened by the surrounding forest, almost as if nature is reclaiming it. The scene is obscured by a screen of trees, and the castle’s distant presence evokes a sense of longing and perhaps the unattainable. The use of etching, with its fine lines and intricate detail, adds to the dreamlike quality. What might this obscured castle represent? A fading history, or perhaps a future we can only glimpse through the complicated tangle of the present?