Ruiter in de regen before 2009

This is Aat Verhoog’s ‘Ruiter in de regen’ at the Rijksmuseum, and it really throws you into the thick of it, doesn’t it? I can almost feel myself in the rain. The way Verhoog uses the material, those vertical strokes, it's not just rain; it’s like a curtain of weather coming right at you. You know? What was he thinking when he put in the figure lying on the ground? The horse seems to be galloping, as if trying to escape the downpour, and the rider, with her wind-swept hair, is like this defiant figure against the elements. There’s a sort of raw energy here, a mix of control and chaos. The artist is pulling you into this really physical experience, where painting becomes a way of feeling and being in the world. I love that Verhoog wasn’t afraid to get messy, to let the painting breathe and live. It's like he's saying: here’s the world, wild and untamed, and here we are, right in the middle of it.