De wolf 1894 - 1959

This print of 'The Wolf', whose author and date are unknown, lives at the Rijksmuseum. The piece shows a wolf standing alone in a snowy landscape. I imagine the artist carefully layering the colors to create the wolf's fur, that mix of brown and grey giving it a wild, untamed look. And how the artist's hand might have trembled slightly as they tried to capture the animal’s intense gaze. It's like they’re trying to understand something about the wolf's nature, its solitude and the way it roams through the wilderness. The tiny wooden structure in the background, a lone outpost in the distance, accentuates this sense of isolation. It reminds me of folk art traditions, where animals often appear as symbols of something larger than themselves. There's a dialogue happening between artists across centuries; a shared language of colors, forms, and textures that keeps evolving.