Berglandschap met bomen 1834 - 1911

Editor: We are looking at "Berglandschap met bomen" (Mountain Landscape with Trees) by Jozef Israëls, likely created sometime between 1834 and 1911. It’s a graphite and pen sketch on toned paper, found in the Rijksmuseum. It feels very intimate, almost like catching a glimpse into the artist's private sketchbook. It is intriguing, but in all honestly, also somewhat chaotic. What captures your attention in this sketch? Curator: Chaos is one word for it, I'd perhaps consider "energy"! Israëls is letting us peek behind the curtain, isn't he? There's an immediacy here that’s quite refreshing. Think about the era, realism, yes, but it’s a raw realism, before the canvas is primped and proper. I sense him grappling with the form of these ancient trees clinging to the mountainside. See how the graphite almost vibrates, attempting to capture light and shadow with a furious scribbling? Editor: Yes, there’s a real sense of movement. So it is less about depicting a perfect mountain and more about capturing its essence, his experience of it? Curator: Precisely! Think of it like musical scales, honing his ability to feel a landscape, rather than meticulously recreating every rock and leaf. And isn’t that the core of being an artist – not just *seeing* but *feeling* and translating that feeling onto paper? Do you find that his sketch evokes that feeling in you? Editor: Definitely, I am almost cold standing there, like being on that mountain myself. This wasn't just a landscape; it was a landscape internalized, digested, and reborn through Israëls' hand. Thank you for that wonderful reading!