Roeiboot op het water onder een loopbrug in aanbouw 1870 - 1931

This sketch by Willem Bastiaan Tholen captures a scene with a rowing boat on the water beneath a bridge under construction. The boat, a vessel of transport and transition, sits calmly on the water. The unfinished bridge looms overhead, symbolizing progress and connection but also a state of incompleteness and potential. The symbolism of a boat crossing water appears throughout history, from ancient Egyptian funerary rites to the myth of Charon ferrying souls across the river Styx. It represents life's journey, often intertwined with themes of mortality and passage into the unknown. Here, the boat is static, hinting at a pause or contemplation within life's broader journey. The bridge, a symbol of connection and advancement, is here in the process of becoming. It echoes the Tower of Babel, a monument to human ambition. There is an emotional tension between the solid, grounded nature of the boat and the aspirational, yet incomplete, structure above. It resonates with the subconscious desire to build, connect, and transcend, highlighting the eternal human drive to bridge the gaps between ourselves and the world.