Vrouwenfiguur in landschap met cipressen c. 1908

Editor: So, here we have "Vrouwenfiguur in landschap met cipressen", or "Woman in a landscape with cypresses," by Simon Moulijn, circa 1908. It's an etching. It has a very quiet, almost dreamlike quality to it. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Dreamlike is a lovely word for it. The cypress trees…they’re almost stage curtains, aren't they? Framing the woman, inviting us into her inner world. It’s Moulijn at his most Symbolist, I think, flirting with Intimism, too. This isn't just a woman in a landscape; it’s an emotional landscape, rendered with this almost frantic etching technique, a sense of underlying anxiety. What do you make of her gesture? Editor: It feels like she's maybe...reaching out? Or perhaps stopping something, like "halt". Is she directing the viewer or is she responding to something we can't see? Curator: Precisely! And that ambiguity is so delicious. Look at the trees mirrored, abstracted, in the water; it reminds me a little of a memory fading. It’s introspective, isn't it? Not neo-impressionistic as some might say. More like… the memory of an impression. He wants to convey a specific feeling to each individual viewer. What feeling does this evoke for you? Editor: It makes me feel a little melancholic, maybe? Like looking back on something just out of reach. I see how the etching technique creates that anxiety you mentioned. Curator: Beautiful! A melancholy, restless beauty…Yes, Moulijn invites us to participate, and to feel. It's a dialogue. What a gift. Editor: Absolutely, that makes a lot of sense. I’ll never look at it the same way again.