Landschap met figuren die een wak maken op een bevroren vaart c. 1825 - 1829

This pencil drawing by Andreas Schelfhout captures a winter scene with figures breaking the ice on a frozen waterway. The act of breaking the ice, seemingly simple, is rich with symbolic potential, evoking the disruption of a static state, a release of what is held frozen within. Consider how similar acts of ‘breaking through’ appear across cultures, from rituals that mark the transition from winter to spring, to the symbolic smashing of barriers in revolutionary art. The men in this drawing are using long poles, tools to ‘move’ forward. This action and symbol remind me of a fresco in the Palazzo Schifanoia, in Ferrara. There, the depiction of manual labor is a celebration of human endeavors. But here, in this winter landscape, the breaking of ice also carries an emotional dimension. It speaks to a primal desire to overcome obstacles, to unlock potential from the grip of the cold, resonating with a deep-seated human drive to transform and transcend. The cracking of ice, the disturbance of nature's frozen stillness, touches upon our collective yearning for renewal and change.