Duinlandschap 1881 - 1927

Here's a landscape conjured into being with charcoal or maybe graphite. You can see de Jonge moving back and forth, layering his marks, as if he were building up the land itself. I imagine him out there, squinting against the light, trying to catch the feel of this dune landscape. He's really feeling that horizon line. You can see it in those long, continuous strokes, like he’s trying to capture not just what he sees, but the very essence of distance. It's that gray area where everything seems to meet. Look at the scrubby bushes in the foreground. Each stroke is like a little decision, a little push and pull, that slowly builds up into the whole. Artists look, but they also see. With this sketch, de Jonge invites us to do the same. Artists are always in conversation with each other, across time. They keep each other going.