Rivierlandschap met twee figuren in een boot 1909

This is a landscape with two figures in a boat by Johan Antonie de Jonge and it appears to be done in charcoal. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving across the paper. I imagine de Jonge standing there, squinting at the light on the water, trying to capture not just what he saw, but what he *felt*. Look at how the marks become more dense on the left side of the work, this suggests an area of shadow and maybe that's the end of the day. Maybe he was tired. I often find the landscape to be a mirror to the artist's internal state. The landscape is never just the landscape, you know? It is a projection of their thoughts, feelings, and memories. You can see a suggestion of the artist's hand in the mark-making. It reminds me a bit of Corot, or maybe even some of the Barbizon school painters – artists who were really trying to get at the soul of a place. And like them, de Jonge’s work invites us to slow down, breathe deep, and really look.