Boerderij met hooischelf c. 1905

This etching by Willem de Zwart, titled Boerderij met hooischelf, presents us with a humble farm scene rendered through a dense network of marks. The lack of color pushes us to focus on the essential process of artmaking, reducing the scene to a fundamental question of light and dark. Look at the way De Zwart captures the textures of the thatched roof and the surrounding foliage, it's like he’s feeling his way through the landscape, translating its surfaces into a language of lines. The reflections in the water are particularly compelling, blurring the distinction between the real and the reflected. Each stroke feels deliberate, and yet the overall effect is one of spontaneity. De Zwart was working around the same time as James McNeill Whistler, and I can see a similar interest in capturing fleeting moments of light and atmosphere. But where Whistler often aimed for a kind of ethereal beauty, De Zwart seems more grounded, more interested in the everyday realities of rural life. Ultimately, the beauty of this piece lies in its honesty.