Rivierlandschap met een molen Possibly 1906 - 1909

Willem Witsen made this landscape drawing of a river with a mill using graphite on paper. It's a study in seeing. The paper is the ground, the given, and the marks are a kind of choreography on top of it. He's not trying to trick you into thinking this is the real world. He's showing you how he saw it, how he translated it. The softness of the graphite mimics the way light softens edges in a landscape, creating a sense of depth and atmosphere with minimal means. It feels immediate, like a quick sketch done on location, trying to capture the essence of a fleeting moment. Look at the way he suggests the movement of the water with just a few horizontal strokes. It's all about suggestion, about finding the simplest way to convey the most information. You can see echoes of Whistler, especially in the tonal approach and the emphasis on capturing a mood rather than a detailed representation. Both were interested in the poetry of everyday life, finding beauty in the mundane. For me, it's a reminder that art is always a conversation, artists borrowing and building on each other's ideas across time.