Kalenderblad september met boom en valk 1903

This calendar page for September, with a tree and falcon, was made by Theo van Hoytema, but the year is unknown. You can imagine Hoytema making this print. A tree—its solid trunk and reaching branch, meeting the crisp air. The texture here isn’t about thick strokes of pigment. Instead, it’s created with delicate marks. A soft, grainy surface is built up, almost like dust accumulating on a windowpane. This gives the image a hazy, dreamlike quality. I wonder what it was like for Hoytema to sit and methodically build up this image. Each little mark contributes to the whole, giving you the impression of a world observed and carefully noted. It reminds me a bit of other artists, like the meticulous botanical drawings of Maria Merian. Artists across time, trading notes in a visual language. Hoytema and Merian, separated by time, but connected by a deep, shared curiosity.