Vrouw die op een stoel naast een wieg zit 1887 - 1920

Albert Roelofs made this etching, titled "Vrouw die op een stoel naast een wieg zit", sometime around the turn of the century, and it's all about mood. I mean, the image is almost swallowed by darkness, but that's the point, right? It's like he’s captured a fleeting thought. Roelofs has built up the image using these tiny, scratchy marks and lines. I like how you can see the process, like he's thinking through the image, one mark at a time. There's this one little rectangular highlight at the centre of the image. It could be light reflecting off the metal of the cot. Roelofs was doing something so different, so much more emotional. This print really gets under your skin, it shares something of the intimacy found in the etchings of someone like Whistler. I think that’s why it stays with you; it doesn't tell you what to think, it just invites you to feel.