Portret van Ludwig van Beethoven 1902

Antoon Derkinderen made this portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven using graphite. Derkinderen, who lived through the transformations of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, positions Beethoven as a figure of intense interiority. During this time, Beethoven was a symbol of revolutionary artistic genius. It's hard not to read his furrowed brow as reflecting the weight of artistic creation. What did it mean to be a man, an artist, and a genius at the turn of the century? In many ways Beethoven was held up as an example of white male genius. Derkinderen invites us to meditate on how individual suffering intertwines with artistic creation and genius. The drawing allows us to project our own experiences of struggle and creativity onto Beethoven's iconic image.