Landschap 1881 - 1883

This simple landscape sketch was rendered by George Hendrik Breitner in pencil. Here, the rudimentary form of a tree emerges, its skeletal structure a stark reminder of nature's cycles of life and death. The tree, a universal symbol, appears across cultures, representing growth, strength, and interconnectedness. In many traditions, the tree symbolizes the axis mundi, or world axis, connecting the earth to the heavens, much like the Nordic Yggdrasil or the Tree of Knowledge in Genesis. In Breitner’s sketch, the tree’s bare branches evoke a sense of vulnerability, reflecting a psychological connection to human fragility. This echoes through art history—from the desolate trees in Caspar David Friedrich's landscapes, expressing Romantic melancholy, to the gnarled, resilient trees in Van Gogh's paintings, embodying perseverance in the face of adversity. The cyclical progression of this symbol shows how it has resurfaced, evolved, and taken on new meanings in different historical contexts.