Duinen 1831 - 1904

Arnoud Schaepkens created this etching titled ‘Duinen’ - or Dunes - using an etching technique, resulting in a print of merely 74 by 151 millimeters. The artwork is dominated by a contrast between the dense, dark foreground and the lighter, more open sky and distant landscape. Schaepkens uses dense hatching to create a sense of depth and texture in the dunes. Consider how the use of line and tone invite us to contemplate our place within the landscape. The contrast between the foreground and background not only creates depth but also a sense of transition. This can be seen as a semiotic signifier, marking the passage from the known to the unknown, or from the material to the ethereal. The structure of this image is a window into the artist’s perception, a representation of nature filtered through technique. The emphasis on texture invites us to consider how the material world is translated into art, and how our understanding of landscape is constructed through representation.