Gezicht op een Italiaanse stad 1920

Reijer Stolk made this watercolour of an Italian town, and what grabs me first is the sense of a place filtered through memory. The colours are muted, almost like a faded photograph, and the shapes are simplified, reduced to their essence. Look at how the buildings are rendered: basic blocks with just enough detail to suggest windows and rooftops. There’s a real process on display here, Stolk isn't trying to trick you, just give you the feeling of being there. The paint is thin, washy, and the lines are drawn with a kind of hesitant confidence. It reminds me a bit of Giorgio Morandi's landscapes, that same sense of quiet observation. I particularly love the way Stolk handles the water in the foreground; these angular shapes feel both abstract and representational, capturing the stillness of the water. It's not just a painting of a place; it’s a painting about the act of seeing. It’s more about the experience of a place than a photo-realistic rendering of it, and that, to me, is what makes it so engaging.