Bomen op een heuvel aan het water 1905

Simon Moulijn made this drawing, Bomen op een heuvel aan het water, with graphite on paper. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving, caressing the paper, building up the image stroke by stroke. I can imagine Moulijn sitting there, maybe with a cup of coffee, totally absorbed in the scene. It must have been a slow process to create this image, rendering those trees and that water, to make them feel so alive with light. Look at the way he’s layered the graphite to create depth. See how each mark contributes to the overall sense of atmosphere. I like to think about the conversations between artists, across time. Moulijn was surely inspired by his contemporaries and those who came before him, like the artists of the Hague School or even further back to the old masters of the Dutch Golden Age. This drawing is less about capturing a literal scene and more about capturing a feeling. It's like a quiet hum. It’s more of a suggestion than a statement.