Kustlijn van de Zuiderzee in Valkeveen c. 1913

Willem Witsen created this etching, "Kustlijn van de Zuiderzee in Valkeveen," using a monochrome palette and subtle variations in tone. The composition divides the scene into three horizontal registers: the sky, the sea, and the land. This is an evocation of space and distance. Witsen uses the etching technique to play with light and shadow. The etched lines create texture, distinguishing between the reflective wet sand of the beach and the rougher, darker mass of the land. Notice how the artist varies the density and direction of the lines to suggest form and depth. The figures on the horizon, abstracted into simple silhouettes, are a study in scale, and reinforce the vastness of the landscape. The artist's manipulation of light and line also contributes to an emotional landscape. It could be said that the work's formal qualities evoke a sense of solitude and introspection, a visual metaphor for the transient nature of human experience against the backdrop of nature's permanence.