Zeilboten op de Maas 1914 - 1916

Willem Cornelis Rip made this sketch of sailboats on the Maas, probably with a pencil, sitting by the water’s edge. I can imagine him, squinting at the light reflecting off the water, trying to capture the scene with quick, sure strokes. It’s so intimate, right? Like a little secret shared between the artist and the paper. I love how the marks are so economical, just enough to suggest the boats, the water, the distant windmills. You can almost feel the breeze and smell the river. The reflections in the water are so lovely, these vertical marks. The artist captures the essence of a place and time with so few lines. Rip reminds me of other painters like James McNeill Whistler, who found beauty in the everyday and in the fleeting effects of light. It's all about seeing, feeling, and translating that onto a surface.