Kloof in het bos 1907 - 1909

Editor: So, this is "Kloof in het bos" - "Ravine in the Woods," created sometime between 1907 and 1909 by Simon Moulijn. It’s a print – a linocut or woodblock print – and it's currently housed at the Rijksmuseum. What immediately strikes me is the starkness of it. It’s monochromatic, almost sepia-toned, and the ravine itself feels like a dark secret carved into the landscape. What do you see in it? Curator: I love that “dark secret” – it resonates! To me, it whispers of introspection. Moulijn, with these deeply etched lines, invites us into the forest's psyche. Don't you feel pulled in, almost as if the trees are silent observers to something profound? I always wonder, what IS at the bottom of that ravine? Editor: Absolutely, there’s definitely a sense of being pulled in! The perspective kind of warps, and you can't really see what's down there. Is that intentional, do you think? To create this unease? Curator: Intention is a funny thing with art. Sometimes it's less about "I will make them feel X" and more about, "I feel this, and I must express it." Given the period - think early 20th century, bubbling anxieties about industrialization - this ravine could symbolize a tear in the fabric of nature, or perhaps even in Moulijn’s own soul. What do *you* feel about that? The relationship with the natural world is also really important. Editor: I think that rings true. It's as though the beauty and the unease are intertwined. The crisp lines give structure, but the shadows hint at something… unseen, unsettling. I hadn’t quite connected it to that broader cultural anxiety, so that is really useful context for understanding the feeling I had in that initial response. Thanks for the insight! Curator: And thank you for your interpretation! That unease you pinpoint – it's what makes the work so compelling. It's a dance between light and shadow, certainty and mystery, isn’t it?