Zeil- en roeiboten op het water 1914 - 1916

Willem Cornelis Rip made this pencil sketch of sailboats and rowboats, and I can just imagine the scratch of graphite on paper, the artist's hand moving swiftly, trying to capture the scene before it shifts. I bet Rip was thinking about light – how it bounces off the water, how it defines the shapes of the boats and the clouds. See how the pencil lines create a sense of movement, like the water is shimmering and the boats are gently swaying? It’s all suggestion, a kind of shorthand, but it works so well! It’s like he’s having a conversation with other artists who've tried to capture the sea and the sky, like Turner, or maybe Whistler. Each artist brings their own way of seeing and feeling, adding to this ongoing dialogue. And that’s what art is, right? A way of connecting, of sharing our experiences, and opening up new ways of seeing the world.