The Arrival at the Windmill 1905

Auguste-Louis Lepère made this etching called ‘The Arrival at the Windmill’. It's all about the push and pull of dark and light, a dance created by the artist's hand. Look at the way the lines build up, like layers of thought, gradually forming the image. The whole scene is kind of scratchy and alive. Notice the area around the windmill, how the lines are dense and create this shadowed mass. Then there's the tree, all spindly and reaching, a totally different kind of mark. These lines, these scratches, they're not just describing things, they're giving us a feeling, a sense of place. Lepère reminds me of Daumier, or maybe even some of the German Expressionists, who used printmaking to explore social themes. This isn’t a fixed or definitive meaning. It’s an image to get lost in.