Vrouw loopt over de heide met een zak op haar schouders c. 1906

This print by Willem Witsen shows a woman walking across a heath with a sack on her shoulders, and it's all about the power of suggestion. Witsen doesn't give us a clear picture, but rather a series of marks that come together to evoke a mood. The dark, stormy sky is rendered with these strong vertical lines, suggesting rain, while the woman herself is a study in weight and burden. Look at the way she’s bent under the weight of her load. The image feels heavy, not just because of the subject matter, but because of the density of the marks, especially in the sky and around the figure. It’s like Witsen is using the ink to press down on us, to make us feel the weight of the world, or at least, the weight of that sack. It reminds me a bit of some of Käthe Kollwitz's prints, where the medium itself seems to carry the weight of the artist’s empathy. This is what art is, right? An ongoing conversation across time.