Liggende koeien in een weiland 1848 - 1888

Anton Mauve's pencil drawing, 'Liggende koeien in een weiland,' at the Rijksmuseum, presents a tranquil, almost desolate scene. The composition is divided, creating two distinct yet related spaces, one dominated by landscape, and the other by the cows. Mauve’s use of line is particularly striking. It's not about precise representation, but about capturing the essence of form and space. The visible marks of the artist’s hand, the hatching and cross-hatching, create a textural depth that is both visually appealing and conceptually intriguing. The cows themselves are rendered with loose, gestural lines, suggesting their mass and form without getting bogged down in detail. This drawing invites us to consider the relationship between representation and abstraction. The cows, while identifiable, are also simplified forms, almost like signs or symbols. The drawing exists not just as a picture of cows in a field, but as an exploration of how we perceive and represent the world around us.