Gezicht op een kanaal 1870 - 1896

Adriaan Pit etched this view of a canal around the turn of the century. The boats resting upon the water, seemingly idle, are vessels of symbolic weight. Consider the boat as Charon's ferry, a motif echoing through time from ancient Greek art. Charon carries souls across the rivers Styx and Acheron to the underworld, and this symbolism of passage to the afterlife evolves into Christian art as the ship of the church. The boat is safety and danger, a vessel for adventure and escape. We find it in the art of ancient Egypt, where the sun god Ra makes his daily voyage across the sky in a boat, or the ship of fools in Bosch’s paintings. Each depiction taps into a collective memory, a shared human understanding of the boat's dual nature. It is a powerful force, engaging us on a deep, subconscious level. The image of the boat transcends specific cultural contexts, resurfacing time and again, laden with the hopes, fears, and dreams of humanity.