Landschap met wolkenlucht c. 1884 - 1887

Willem Witsen sketched this landscape with a cloudy sky in graphite. Here, the sky and clouds are dominant, elements of the natural world imbued with a powerful symbolic resonance. Throughout history, the sky has been a canvas for human imagination, a realm of gods and the sublime, and clouds have been interpreted as symbols of transition, change, and the ephemeral nature of existence. Think, for instance, of the significance of cloud formations in ancient Chinese landscape painting, where they represented the flow of ‘qi’, the vital energy of the universe. Or consider the religious art, in which divine figures often appear among the clouds, signifying transcendence and divine presence. Such primal symbols engage viewers on a deep, subconscious level, triggering profound psychological responses. The recurring motifs of the natural world remind us of the eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth.