Parklandschap met hagen 1939 - 2009

This is Kees Stoop’s ‘Parklandschap met hagen’, made with black chalk. It looks like a quick sketch, but I’d say that it’s a carefully considered study of textures and light. Look at how Stoop renders the foliage, it’s a dense, almost impenetrable mass, achieved with layers of short, choppy lines. The chalk is applied with varying pressure, creating a dynamic interplay between light and shadow. There’s a real sense of depth. The hedge in the foreground is defined by a series of vertical strokes, creating a tactile surface that invites you to reach out and touch it. And this one curving branch that droops into the frame, I see it as an almost anthropomorphic gesture, a melancholic nod perhaps. Stoop's work reminds me a bit of Corot, this interest in capturing the subtle nuances of light and atmosphere, but with a more modern sensibility. Both were interested in the process of seeing and feeling, as much as depicting. It’s a dialogue across time, an ongoing conversation.