Kleine zeilboot in het water bij de duinen 1901

Jan Toorop made this small etching of a sailboat near the dunes, using ink on paper. The whole thing feels like a sketch, almost dreamlike. The surface has a delicate touch. You can see all the tiny lines that make up the image. There's a kind of gentle energy to the marks, especially in the water. They aren't too precious, it feels like he captured the scene quickly, while the light was just right. There's a simplicity to the rendering of the boat, it's not overly detailed, but you still get a sense of its shape and form. It’s like a memory of a boat, rather than a photorealistic depiction. And then you have these darker, scratchier lines, which give it a kind of weight and anchor it. Toorop was part of a Symbolist movement, and I see this in how the image feels more about evoking a mood or feeling than representing reality. This reminds me a little of Whistler’s etchings, that same sense of understated elegance. It’s nice to think of artists having conversations across time, even if they never met.