Twee zilverpopulieren bij Santpoort 1900 - 1910

This is Wijnand Otto Jan Nieuwenkamp’s etching of two silver poplar trees near Santpoort. Look at the way he’s built up this image, bit by bit, with these tiny little strokes. It’s like he’s feeling his way through the scene, one line at a time. The texture in this piece is so interesting; it’s rough but also delicate. The tiny, scratchy lines create this really tactile surface, almost like you could reach out and feel the bark of the trees. The light seems to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at once, creating a hazy, dreamlike effect. I'm especially drawn to the way he renders the branches, a dense network of lines that almost looks like a nervous system. For me, this piece echoes the work of artists like Samuel Palmer, who found a kind of ecstatic vision in the everyday landscape. Ultimately, art is about seeing the world in a new way, finding beauty in unexpected places, and leaving room for interpretation.