Boslandschap, mogelijk in Zuid-Afrika 1967 - 1971

Willem Jacob van den Berg made this little photograph, possibly in South Africa. The colours are muted, like it's been sitting in the sun, bleached to a gentle, pastel haze. It’s the kind of picture that makes you think about time passing and the way colours fade and shift. The mountain is the most prominent feature, solid and imposing, but softened by the light. Then there's the scrubby bush land in the foreground, rendered in soft focus; it’s a world of quiet, unassuming beauty. The whole image has a dreamlike quality, like a memory half-forgotten. This reminds me a bit of the dreamlike landscapes of Peter Doig. Both artists invite us to lose ourselves in the beauty of the natural world and the mysteries of memory and perception.