Rivierlandschap met boerderij 1869 - 1941

Johannes Abraham Mondt made this watercolor painting of a River Landscape with a Farmhouse. I imagine him outside, on the riverbank, squinting at the scene, trying to make sense of the light. It’s a tricky thing, to capture something as fleeting as light. It looks like he’s used thin washes of paint, letting the colors bleed and blend together, almost like he’s trying to catch the mist rising off the water. See how the gray sky seems to melt into the green trees and the brown farmhouse? I wonder if he struggled with the composition? It feels a little off-kilter, with the boats clustered on one side and the farmhouse tucked away in the distance. But maybe that's the point. Maybe he was more interested in capturing a feeling, a mood, rather than a perfect representation of the scene. Like the way we feel when we remember being there, on that same riverbank. I think he does a great job of this, don’t you?