Gezicht op Wijk bij Duurstede 1906 - 1907

Willem Witsen made this drawing, "Gezicht op Wijk bij Duurstede," with graphite, and the way he's just letting the marks accumulate, it’s like he's thinking out loud. See how the graphite is layered to build up a sense of depth? It feels like he's wrestling with the landscape, trying to pin down something fleeting. Look at the cluster of marks that might suggest a building or a cloud. The textures he’s created there feel almost topographic, like a map of a feeling. It reminds me a little of James McNeill Whistler's atmospheric studies, but with a more restless energy. You can see Witsen searching, not settling, embracing the unresolved. Art isn’t about answers; it’s about the questions we ask along the way.