Kale dennenstammen op glooiend terrein

Maria Johanna Goemans made this drawing, Kale dennenstammen op glooiend terrein, with pencil, and the quick, loose marks tell us that Goemans wasn’t trying to capture a specific scene but more an impression, a feeling of being in this landscape. Look at the texture of the paper itself and how it interacts with the graphite, creating a sense of depth and atmosphere. The trunks of the trees are rendered with simple, vertical strokes. There’s something really immediate and honest about the way the artist has approached the subject, almost like she’s inviting us to collaborate in completing the image. I keep thinking about Morandi and his drawings of bottles, there is something similar in the way Goemans abstracts the natural world, reducing the trees and hillside into rhythmic marks. Ultimately this piece is about openness and ambiguity, inviting us to pause, and to bring our own experiences to the act of looking.