The Voyage 1920

Editor: This is Hans Meid’s “The Voyage,” made in 1920. It looks like an ink drawing or print, with lots of really fine lines. There’s this melancholic feeling, and a vastness to the landscape with two lonely figures by the sea... What story do you think it's trying to tell? Curator: A melancholic story, you say? Yes, I feel it too! Those two figures, silhouetted against that stormy sky... They evoke such a strong sense of longing, wouldn’t you agree? Perhaps it's a memory, a half-remembered dream of setting sail for unknown lands. Or perhaps it’s about the dream itself, not the voyage! Do you see how the artist used a simple line to create the texture of the sky and water? Editor: I do. It's like he captured the vastness of the sky, without getting bogged down in details. That line really brings everything together, but the lack of precise details also gives the scene a very lonely mood... So, why use such a light touch, and yet evoke such depth of feeling? Curator: Ah, there’s the rub, isn't it? The ambiguity invites our own stories, our own longings, into the piece. The simplicity is deceptive; it gives our imagination free rein. Notice how that single, wavering line connecting the standing figure to the one sitting pulls at your gaze. Almost like they are tethered by memory, maybe, or regret. Meid asks us, aren't we all forever stranded on some forgotten shore? Editor: That makes sense. It is strange how a few lines can feel so emotional and symbolic! It's not really a cheerful travel ad! Curator: Precisely! It is a rumination on yearning itself. "The Voyage" is the sort of piece you see differently depending on where you are on your own life’s journey. A small but beautiful echo of the soul, eh? Editor: I totally get that. Looking at it now, I see something very different than what I saw just a few minutes ago. Thank you.