Drie kinderen spelend met een bok 1771

Jurriaan Andriessen created this oil on canvas painting, "Three Children Playing with a Goat," now at the Rijksmuseum. The painting is striking for its playful yet formally structured composition. The arrangement of the children and goat creates a dynamic, almost triangular form, set against a lush landscape. Andriessen's choice of pastel colors, combined with the soft modeling of forms, gives the scene a dreamlike quality. The interaction between the figures and the animal—a symbolic inversion of innocence and nature—destabilizes the conventional pastoral scene. Notice how the vase appears to spill water, disrupting the stillness typically found in classical art. The painting plays with semiotic codes, suggesting a deeper engagement with the philosophical debates of its time. Consider how the formal qualities invite us to question fixed meanings and to see art as a dialogue between form and idea. Ultimately, the painting encourages us to reflect on the dynamic interplay between representation and reality.