Pad door een landschap c. 1884 - 1887

This is "Path through a Landscape" by Willem Witsen, created using graphite and chalk on paper. Immediately striking is the work's tonal range, moving from the palest whites to deep charcoal greys. The composition divides the scene into three horizontal registers. At the top, the faintest suggestion of a windmill. The middle register contains a loose sketch of land, while at the bottom, a dense area of layered marks. The work can be approached through the structuralist lens of binary oppositions. The graphic marks denote a pathway, yet where might it lead? The contrast between the distinct applications of chalk and graphite may reflect an interplay between clarity and ambiguity. The artist plays with the tension between representation and abstraction, inviting us to question the nature of perception and the translation of visual experience into symbolic form. Ultimately, it is the unresolved nature of the drawing that prompts us to reflect on the multiplicity of possible meanings and the fluid boundaries of artistic expression.