Studieblad met twee figuren in een landschap 1868 - 1928

Jan Toorop made this pencil drawing of figures in a landscape in the late 19th century. Look closely, and you’ll see a figure holding an axe standing over another who is crouched on the ground. Looming over them is a monstrous head with bared teeth. Toorop was Dutch, but much of his career was spent in Brussels, and the imagery in this drawing has the character of Belgian Symbolism. The landscape is less a representation of the natural world and more of a psychological space. What does this strange image tell us about the social and political anxieties of the time? Toorop lived through a period of rapid industrial expansion and social change. Perhaps the monster is an allegory of those changes, threatening the traditional ways of life. As art historians, we can look at the wider cultural context of this drawing and consider the artist’s personal history to better understand its meaning.