Veld aan de rand van een bos 1848 - 1888

Here we see Anton Mauve's charcoal drawing of a field bordering a wood, now held at the Rijksmuseum. Look at the horizon line; the artist’s charcoal strokes give us a sense of the wild, untamed nature of the landscape. The horizon, a recurring motif in art across cultures, is a potent symbol. Think of the ancient Egyptians, who saw the horizon as the meeting point of the earthly and divine realms, or the Renaissance painters who used the horizon to create perspective and depth. The horizon line is not just a visual element; it's a psychological boundary, representing the limit of our perception, the edge of the known world. Like the German Romantic painters Caspar David Friedrich, and Carl Gustav Carus, Mauve’s landscape evokes a sense of sublime melancholy. The horizon line acts as an invitation to ponder our place in the vastness of existence. It reminds us that symbols are never static, they evolve, adapt, and resurface in unexpected ways.