Boerderij met hooiberg 1844 - 1898

Henry van Ingen created this etching of a farm with a haystack. In this simple scene, the haystack looms large, a universal symbol of harvest and agricultural wealth. Consider the motif of gathering, storing, and later distributing food for the community. It is a deeply rooted human activity. Across cultures and centuries, we find parallels, from the granaries of ancient Egypt to the communal storage practices in early agricultural societies. Haystacks, like pyramids, swell from the land as symbols of stored food, built up against the hunger that always stalks us. These images resonate powerfully because they tap into our collective memory, triggering primal emotions associated with survival, community, and the cyclical rhythms of nature. It is a feeling, a knowledge, passed down through generations. We return to images that evoke these fundamental aspects of human experience.