Doorbraak van de Westervoortsche dijk in den nacht van 5-6 maart 1855 Arnhem, uit het Felpsbroek te zien 1821 - 1861

Editor: This pencil and etching artwork is Jacobus Pelgrom’s, titled *Doorbraak van de Westervoortsche dijk in den nacht van 5-6 maart 1855 Arnhem, uit het Felpsbroek te zien*. It depicts the breaching of the Westervoort dike. The bleak realism lends it a certain quiet drama, don't you think? What leaps out at you when you see it? Curator: Oh, that "quiet drama" is pitch-perfect! For me, it whispers of nature's indifferent power. It’s like the land is sighing, "I was here long before you and will be long after." I wonder if Pelgrom stood in the mud, his toes freezing, just to capture that feeling of humbled observation. Look how he makes us feel so small with his wide open, cloud laden sky. Did he want to convey his version of the sublime? Editor: The way the masts list gives such a sense of...abandonment? Curator: Precisely! Those crooked masts – they’re the key! They echo the broken dike, a symbol of disrupted order, yet standing, still strong, even in their awkwardness. Editor: I hadn’t thought of them as strong...more broken. Curator: But isn’t brokenness a form of strength? Haven’t we all felt like that at some point? Maybe it's resilience we see, and the artist too! Editor: That’s… wow. I was focused on the devastation, not what remained. Thanks for pointing that out. I definitely look at it differently now! Curator: The beauty is that great art changes with our perceptions. Every visit gives another layer.