As I walked along the paths between the fileds and looked at the hollow pollarded willows so common in the Lower Rhein area, I thought of the long trail of Dutch painters who devoted their lives to painting nature while expressing their own inner life. Take such a nature painting, or a sketch as a statement, you readily notice it cannot be made by a shallow person.
They painted hills and brooks and trees in days that long have gone
We see the world, but miss the glow, another light then shone
To know those ponds and moors and flocks we need a loving eye
An eye prepared to see the world as if at primal dawn
Advertisements
