Landschap met bomen en bergen c. 1891

Curator: It’s funny how unfinished this sketch appears, yet it so completely evokes a sense of place. Editor: Agreed. There’s a haunting quality to this graphite-on-paper landscape—entitled “Landschap met bomen en bergen” or, in English, “Landscape with Trees and Mountains”. It was rendered around 1891 by Egbert Rubertus Derk Schaap. What initially strikes you about it? Curator: The sparseness of it, maybe. A handful of strokes really suggests both a physical space, but also an emotional one? The bare trees feel lonely, and even the mountains in the background seem to echo that sentiment. Editor: Indeed, but I also consider how Schaap situates himself within the conventions of 19th-century landscape art, which often mirrored the socio-political concerns of its time. You know, the artist’s relationship to nature, the changing rural landscape and effects of early industrialization... There's also this interesting mirroring in the body of water... Curator: Ah, you're right. And yet, he refrains from romanticizing nature. He shows us the somewhat desolate, stark bones of the scenery. I imagine he was very in touch with what was around him, yet this scene also speaks to this quiet melancholy, don't you think? It is very moving in a way that's very internal. Editor: Exactly, this mirrors the rise of individualistic philosophies at the end of the 19th Century. Schaap uses abstraction to evoke emotion. The lines, though realistically rendered, pull away just enough that it becomes not just a landscape, but a psychological exploration. The question of what constitutes nature— and our place in its transformation—becomes especially potent. Curator: The fact that he achieves this emotional depth using simple pencils or ink drawings shows the artist’s remarkable skill. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? What other unseen emotions lay waiting in this artist's heart? Editor: Definitely. It is so indicative of the ways we project onto landscapes, even ones long past. They remind us of our connection to, and impact upon, nature itself.