Landschap met huizen en molen bij avond 1870 - 1941

This is Eduard Karsen’s, Landschap met huizen en molen bij avond, a landscape with houses and a mill at evening; made with etching. The all-over darkness has a kind of soft coziness. It’s like a half-remembered dream. The texture comes from the etching process, the physical act of repeatedly biting into the metal plate with acid. The marks build up a dense surface, but the white of the paper shines through in tiny gaps. There’s a tension between the dark and light, almost like a woven fabric. The shapes of the houses and the mill are simplified, reduced to their essential forms. I keep coming back to the sky, to the marks suggesting movement and atmosphere. The lack of clear detail invites us to project our own memories and feelings onto the scene. There's something about the way Karsen embraces the ambiguity of the image, leaving space for the viewer to complete the picture. Think of Whistler’s nocturnes. It's about mood, atmosphere, and the power of suggestion.