Kerk, met kleurnotities 1876 - 1924

Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof created this sketch of a church with colour notes using graphite, and black chalk on paper. The composition immediately strikes one as a study in contrasts. The church is rendered with precise, deliberate lines against the soft, almost ephemeral background. Dijsselhof’s integration of text, or "colour notes," into the visual field invites us to consider the interplay between language and image. This approach is not merely descriptive, but rather analytical; the artist seems to be dissecting the scene into its constituent parts – colour, light, form. The structure is reminiscent of early semiotic diagrams, where elements are labelled and categorized to reveal an underlying system. Notice how Dijsselhof destabilizes traditional representation by foregrounding the process of observation and notation. The church is not merely depicted but is presented as a series of visual and linguistic signs, inviting a reading that goes beyond the surface. The sketch prompts us to consider how we construct meaning through the combination of seeing, naming, and interpreting.