Reisverslag van medio juli 1880 c. 1880 - 1887

Curator: So, this is "Reisverslag van medio juli 1880," or "Travel Journal of Mid-July 1880," a work in ink on paper by Louis Apol, likely from between 1880 and 1887. Currently residing at the Rijksmuseum. It’s a bit different from Apol's snow scenes, isn't it? Editor: Absolutely. It's just… text. It feels so personal and intimate, like stumbling upon someone's private thoughts. I wonder, what do you make of this piece as a travel journal? Curator: Well, handwriting itself, the act of putting pen to paper, already infuses such pieces with presence, wouldn’t you agree? A journal captures moments—not just events, but the feelings swirling around them, the anxieties or joys coloring them. It’s an incredibly raw form of expression. Look at the density of the script, the way words almost tumble over each other… Does it suggest a hurried recollection, a desire to capture fleeting details? Editor: It does have that feel. There’s a sense of urgency. Like, if he didn’t write it down immediately, it would be lost forever. Curator: Exactly. What is Apol trying to preserve? And why ink rather than pencil? Consider that choice. What might that speak to, culturally? Editor: Ink is much more permanent, maybe that speaks to how precious the memories he wrote down were for him? And to their lasting significance. Thanks, I hadn’t thought of it that way! Curator: The beauty of a piece like this lies precisely in its invitation to project, to imagine. It’s not just seeing, but almost overhearing a whisper from the past. Editor: A very good way of framing it. I definitely see this less as just text on paper now, and more like an insight into the inner life of the artist, which I think can be more evocative than most landscape pieces!