Gezicht op de poort van de molen Rijn en Lek te Wijk bij Duurstede Possibly 1906 - 1909

Willem Witsen captured this view of the mill Rijn en Lek at Wijk bij Duurstede in a flurry of graphite pencil strokes, the dark scribbles building depth and form. I can almost feel Witsen hunched over his sketchbook, working en plein air, trying to capture the essence of this place. I wonder if he was racing against the changing light, those marks seem so urgent, almost desperate to record what’s in front of him. It makes me think about the challenge of representing something three-dimensional on a flat surface, to convey a sense of depth and atmosphere with just a few lines. The way he uses hatching to create shadows, the subtle gradations of tone, it’s like he’s building the image from the ground up, brick by brick. He shares a world with other artists, an understanding that goes beyond words. Seeing this makes me want to grab my own pencils, get outside, and wrestle with the world.