Duinlandschap c. 1920

Here is a landscape drawn by Johan Antonie de Jonge with pencil on paper. Note how the artist sketches the trees on the left and the dune to the right with thick, dark marks. The branches are bare, evoking a sense of desolation. Across cultures, trees have served as potent symbols. In ancient mythologies, they often represent the connection between the earthly and the divine. The branches reaching towards the sky, the roots burrowing into the ground. In many traditions, barren trees can also symbolize death, mourning, or a world in decay, echoing a deeper psychological unease or existential questioning. Think of the withering tree in Caspar David Friedrich's works, which suggests a world stripped bare, mirroring a crisis of faith and identity. Such imagery taps into collective memories, resonating with our deepest fears. Here we find cyclical patterns in how these motifs are re-imagined, as if these symbols resurface, transformed, yet still echoing the fundamental human experience.