Landschap met onweerslucht 1919

Adriaan van 't Hoff created this etching, Landschap met onweerslucht, at an unknown date using brown and black inks on paper. I can imagine the weather was closing in as he worked, and wonder if he hurried to capture it all, the sense of foreboding. The sky is a mess of vertical lines! I love the dark brooding trees set against a luminous background. It has a rough energy. When I think about it, painting – or even etching, like van 't Hoff did – is basically a conversation between the artist, their materials, and other artists, both living and dead. Each mark is a reaction to the previous one, each decision shaping the final form in ways that can be both surprising and deeply satisfying. Looking at this, I can feel the hand of the artist at work, wrestling with the elements and trying to make sense of the world through line and tone.