Vis aan een haak 1890 - 1946

This is Cornelis Vreedenburgh’s ‘Fish on a Hook’ in the Rijksmuseum. It's a drawing, and it looks like it was created very quickly, spontaneously. Imagine Vreedenburgh with his sketchbook, sitting somewhere, maybe by the water, just capturing this image with a few simple lines. What was he thinking when he made it? Was he hungry? Was he thinking about the food chain? The fish hangs vertically, almost weightless, suspended in the blank space of the page. Those sketchy lines create the form of the fish. I'm drawn to the way he captured the stillness of the fish, the way it hangs there, almost like a symbol. It's a simple drawing, but it speaks volumes, doesn't it? There's a kind of quietness to it, a sense of contemplation. And that little hook, puncturing through the middle of its head! It reminds me of other artists who find beauty in the everyday, who elevate the mundane to something meaningful through their art. We’re all in conversation, aren’t we?