Koe aan de rand van het water 1883

Léon Brunin created this artwork, *Cow at the Edge of the Water,* using etching techniques. The composition centers on the subject, with the cow portrayed in precise detail. The dark lines create a texture that defines the animal's form and the surrounding landscape, blending into a singular expressive plane. The artist’s use of hatching and cross-hatching not only models the three-dimensional form of the cow but also engages with a broader artistic inquiry into how line and texture can function independently of color to convey depth and volume. The formal rigor of the composition is evident in how the subject's solid mass contrasts with the fluid lines that define the water and the surrounding vegetation. The etching is not merely a representation but an exploration of the materiality and structural capabilities inherent in the etching medium. Brunin challenges our assumptions about what defines a pictorial space.