Boten en een schip op de Schelde 1829

Jan Dam Steuerwald made this print of boats and a ship on the Schelde river. The ships are the heart of this composition, and the ship is a vessel of cultural memory, a symbol of transition and the traversing of both physical and psychological landscapes. The ship motif appears throughout history. Think of the ship of the argonauts, or the ship as the Christian soul’s transport to salvation. The ship has consistently represented humanity's journey through life, fraught with challenges and the promise of discovery. Here, these boats on the Schelde are a visual echo of this ancient symbol. Water is the realm of the subconscious. These ships exist in a space between the known and unknown, and between departure and destination. Like the human psyche, a ship is a container of stories, fears, and dreams.