Ontwerp voor vignet van de Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij, K.P.M. Lines 1874 - 1945

Carel Adolph Lion Cachet designed this vignette for the Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij, K.P.M. Lines, using, it seems, ink on paper. The two-tone palette of bluish gray and golden beige feels both antique and modern, like an old photograph bleached by the sun. The boat is a floating capsule, a container, and the liquid swirls around it. It's all brushy and washy, and the marks are very present, even bold. I wonder if it was made in one go, or whether Cachet labored over it. Take a look at the waves surrounding the boat, they're not just water. They're also monsters, fantastical creatures, the depths of the sea made into something wild. In contrast, the boat itself is quite still, surrounded by all that potential energy and threat. It’s like a little bubble of civilization holding its own in the face of nature. Reminds me a bit of Odilon Redon’s dreamscapes, where the familiar morphs into the surreal. Art is like that: we never really arrive, there is always somewhere else to get to.