Schets van ploegende paarden 1867 - 1935

This is Maurits van der Valk's sketch of ploughing horses, rendered in black chalk on paper. The composition is immediately striking for its raw, unframed energy, delineated by coarse, almost violent strokes. The dark tonality, created by thick, layered marks, conveys the weight of the labor depicted. A semiotic analysis reveals how the artist uses stark lines to portray both the straining muscles of the horses and the deep furrows they carve into the earth. Van der Valk destabilizes the traditional pastoral scene. By focusing on the laboriousness of the act through emphatic mark-making, he elevates the working process itself to the subject. This subversion of established representation aligns with late 19th-century artistic movements focused on depicting the realities of rural life. The sketch's materiality enhances its communicative power. The rough texture of the chalk and the sketch’s unfinished quality emphasize the physicality and temporality of the work. The medium isn't merely representational but becomes an active participant in conveying the scene's mood and meaning.