Dieren 1866 - 1902

Franciscus Antonius Beersmans created this illustrative print, "Dieren," the Dutch word for animals, sometime in the 19th century. The work presents a series of twelve vignettes, each carefully framed, featuring a different animal set against a stylized backdrop of buildings and foliage. A restricted palette of yellow, blue, and brown lends the print a cohesive, almost graphic quality. What immediately strikes us is how Beersmans simplifies form. Animals are not rendered naturalistically but are instead captured as configurations of shape and line. This abstraction invites us to consider the underlying structure of each image: the geometric division of space, the relationship between figure and ground, and the use of color to define shape. Beersmans seems less interested in mimesis and more in exploring how representation itself constructs meaning. By stripping away detail, the artist compels us to contemplate the semiotic codes at play – how animals, buildings, and even colors function as signs within a larger symbolic order. The act of interpretation becomes central, as we are invited to decode the underlying structures that shape our understanding of the natural world.