Bosgezicht 1909

Johan Antonie de Jonge made this landscape, called Bosgezicht, with what looks like charcoal or maybe conté crayon. I love how he’s just feeling his way through the woods, line by line. It’s all about process here: you can almost see him smudging the charcoal with his fingers, layering darks and lights to build up the image. Look at the way he renders the trees – they’re not precise, but they have this raw, almost primal energy. It's like he's wrestling with the landscape, trying to capture its essence rather than just copying what he sees. That heavy, dense patch of charcoal on the left? It’s like a wall, pushing against the lighter, airier lines that suggest depth and space. I am reminded of Vuillard, someone else so good with charcoal, and the way he could create these claustrophobic, yet strangely inviting spaces. Art, like the woods, lets us wander without getting truly lost.