Bomen en takkenbossen bij een hek c. 1889 - 1890

Willem de Zwart created this etching titled 'Trees and bunches of branches by a fence.' Observe the bare tree branches reaching skyward. Throughout art history, the motif of bare trees often symbolizes death, loss, or the transience of life. Recall the stark winter landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich, where skeletal trees evoke a sense of melancholy and introspection. The branches, like veins exposed to the elements, speak to a vulnerability we all share. But note, too, the fence. Fences are the barrier between the ordered world of civilization and the wilderness of nature. This division speaks to our primal need for order amidst the chaos of existence. Consider how the fence both protects and imprisons, much like the societal structures we create. Such symbols resonate across epochs, adapted and reinterpreted, yet still pulsing with the same primeval energies.