Vrouw te paard in een bos 1824 - 1873

Lodewijk Juliaan Fuchs created this print of a woman on horseback in a forest. The forest, a powerful symbol, is a space of the unknown. It is a place where societal norms dissolve, where we may confront our deepest fears and desires. Consider how forests appear in illuminated manuscripts, acting as the wild setting for Arthurian legends. It is within these dense woods that knights errant encounter challenges and undergo transformative journeys. This mirrors the forest's role in classical mythology, where figures like Diana, the huntress, roamed freely, embodying the untamed aspects of nature and the human spirit. This motif is an ‘energram,’ carrying an elemental charge that recurs throughout history. The forest setting engages our collective unconscious, tapping into primal associations of nature and the self. The woman on horseback becomes both a protagonist and a representation of our own psyche. The print becomes more than just a depiction; it is an encounter with our subconscious, a journey through our own internal landscape. The image reflects how the symbols and motifs of the past continue to resonate, evolving in their expression but always rooted in the shared soil of human experience.