River Banks c. 20th century

Gustav Goetsch made this etching of a river bank, but when? We don’t know for sure. I can imagine Goetsch patiently layering each tiny mark, building up the image bit by bit. Look at those trees on the bank, a solid mass of foliage, that then thins out and scatters into delicate lines. I bet he used a super fine tool for that. It’s almost ghostly. I wonder what he was thinking as he worked? Did he just sit on the bank and capture what he saw? I often wonder that when I’m working. Sometimes I think it’s a conversation with artists of the past. Like Turner, who made landscapes that feel so raw. This feels different, more like a quiet moment. And now, many years later, we get to stand here and look at it. It’s pretty cool how artists keep inspiring each other, even across time and space. It's like we're all part of this big conversation, trying to figure things out, one mark at a time.