Duinlandschap 1884 - 1927

Johan Antonie de Jonge made this landscape drawing, probably in situ, with graphite on paper. I love how immediate the image feels, the landscape evoked by subtle shifts in tone and pressure. The sandy dunes have been built up with layers of diagonal hatching, with a few blank spaces left where the white of the page shows through, creating the feeling of brilliant sunlight. Look at how the artist has varied the direction of the marks to build up the texture of the sand and scrubby bushes. You can almost feel the breeze coming off the sea! The marks aren't laboured or overworked, but feel free and exploratory. There is something of Constable in this piece, but I think De Jonge also has a clear affinity with the later work of Cezanne. Each were trying to capture a subjective experience of a landscape, rather than provide a literal representation. For all three artists, the process of mark-making becomes a kind of translation of experience. It's about feeling as much as seeing.