Hooiberg op boerenerf 1912 - 1940

Dick Ket created "Hooiberg op boerenerf," or "Haystack on Farmland," using pencil, pen, and watercolor. Ket's life was marked by isolation due to chronic illness, and this drawing offers a peek into his perception of the rural world around him. The quick, almost nervous strokes of the pencil and pen, combined with the soft washes of watercolor, capture a bucolic scene, yet there's an underlying sense of detachment. Ket lived in relative seclusion in his parents’ house. The farm setting might represent an idealized version of a life he could not fully participate in. His identity as an artist was deeply entwined with his physical suffering. "As a painter, I am lost in the world, alone," Ket once said, encapsulating his emotional state. This piece invites us to consider how illness and isolation shape artistic vision, turning an ordinary landscape into a poignant reflection on longing and exclusion.