Heide bij Laren 1916

This landscape of Heide bij Laren by Jan Fekkes looks like it’s been made with crayon, or maybe charcoal – something about the marks feels dry and powdery. You can imagine the artist, hunkered down somewhere outside, squinting at the scene. The composition is quite classical, with a gentle recession into depth. But it’s also infused with a really interesting surface tension. I wonder what Fekkes was thinking about when he made this? Maybe he was trying to capture a specific moment or time of day. Or, he was simply enjoying the process of mark-making. I like the way the light falls on the clouds, and the way the trees on the right are kind of hunched over. It reminds me a bit of Van Gogh, who was also interested in capturing the essence of nature. Artists are always riffing off each other, consciously or unconsciously. Painting is an ongoing conversation, a way of seeing and feeling and being in the world.