Dorpsgezicht met molens Possibly 1908

Alexander Shilling sketched Dorpsgezicht met molens with what looks like a graphite pencil, creating a dreamy vista of windmills and spired buildings. I can imagine him standing in a field on a blustery day, squinting, making marks that try to pin down what’s in front of him. The scribbled lines feel like a shorthand, like he’s trying to capture the fleeting moment before the light changes or the wind shifts. I wonder if the image might have shifted and emerged through trial, error, and intuition. It reminds me of Guston's loose, searching lines. I sympathize with him because I’ve stood in front of landscapes trying to do the same, to distill the world into a few essential marks. There is an ongoing conversation between artists across time. It's like we're all in the same boat, just trying to figure out how to make sense of what we see and feel. Ultimately, painting is embodied expression. It embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.