Houthakkers bij een omgehakte boom in een bos 1848 - 1888

This is a drawing of woodcutters by Anton Mauve, it is held in the Rijksmuseum and there is no recorded date. The drawing presents a dense, interwoven network of lines, capturing woodcutters at work amidst a forest setting. The immediate impression is one of dynamic energy, rendered through a network of hatching and cross-hatching that defines the space. The composition teeters on the edge of abstraction; the eye struggles to differentiate the figures from their surroundings. This effect dissolves the traditional figure-ground relationship, integrating man and nature into a unified field of activity. The absence of clear, definable forms challenges our perception, inviting a deeper engagement with the materiality of the drawing itself. Mauve prompts questions about representation. Is the artist interested in illustrating the scene, or is he highlighting the act of mark-making? The overall effect of the drawing lies in its capacity to evoke a sense of the forest's chaotic beauty and the physical exertion of labor through purely formal means.