Landschap met brug 1913 - 1917

Alexander Shilling made this landscape with a bridge probably en plein air, directly in front of the motif. It's a pencil sketch. I like to think of drawing as a kind of thinking, a dance of the hand across the paper. Look closely, and you can see how the artist has built up the image with layers of hatching, creating a sense of depth and volume. The texture of the paper shows through, adding a certain lightness to the sketch. My eye is drawn to the bridge itself, rendered with quick, confident lines. It's not a perfect representation, but that's what makes it so appealing. The bridge becomes a metaphor, a connection between different spaces, different ways of seeing. Think of Corot's landscapes, there's a similar attention to capturing the atmosphere, the feeling of being in a specific place at a specific time. Art isn't about answers. It's a question.