Bomen aan het water 1872 - 1932

Frans Smissaert etched “Trees by the Water” capturing a silent, almost spectral scene. The skeletal trees reach upwards, their bare branches a stark reminder of mortality and the cyclical nature of life. Consider how these leafless trees echo the “arbor vitae,” or tree of life, a symbol stretching back to ancient mythologies, representing wisdom, protection, and the interconnectedness of all things. But here, absent of leaves, they evoke a sense of melancholy and introspection. In earlier art, the tree’s roots might connect us to the underworld, while its branches reach for the heavens, symbolizing a bridge between worlds. However, Smissaert's trees seem to exist in a liminal space, caught between the earthly and the ethereal, engaging with a psychological landscape of the viewer. The image lingers in our memory not just as a landscape, but as an emblem of our own transient existence. Smissaert taps into a collective understanding of nature's cycles, reminding us that even in apparent dormancy, life persists, waiting for its season to return.