Weiland met koeien c. 1901 - 1927

Johan Antonie de Jonge made this drawing, "Weiland met koeien," with what looks like charcoal or graphite, conjuring a landscape with cows. Looking at this, I can almost feel the artist’s hand moving quickly, capturing the scene with an urgency, the cows just shapes. Did he see it once, a fleeting moment? The marks are so loose, so gestural, that they almost dissolve into pure feeling. I imagine him outside, maybe on a windy day, trying to catch the light as it shifts across the field. The texture is everything here. The way the charcoal catches on the paper, creating a kind of visual static. It reminds me of Twombly, but with cows. It's all about the surface, the act of making, the artist’s body in conversation with the world. And that, in turn, speaks to us, makes us consider how we see, what we feel, and how painting lets us share that.