Huis tussen bomen 1931

Fre Cohen created ‘Huis tussen bomen’, or ‘House between trees’, using graphic media to construct a stark composition of light and dark. The scene presents a house viewed through clustered trees, and their dense forms create a sense of enclosure. The dark hatching of the trees contrasts with the lighter tones of the sky, structuring the landscape into layered, geometric masses. The trees are stylized, acting as graphic blocks of tone, repeated to form an almost decorative screen. We see a flattening of space here. This reflects the influence of early modernist graphic design. The emphasis on shape and form invites us to consider how Cohen uses graphic techniques to transform a familiar scene into a study of light, texture, and the interplay between nature and architecture. The work embodies a formal meditation on space, line, and shadow. It echoes the structuralist interest in the underlying order that shapes our perception of the world.