Getallen 1893

Editor: This is "Getallen," which translates to "Numbers," a drawing from 1893 by George Hendrik Breitner, residing at the Rijksmuseum. It's rendered with ink, pencil, and pastel on paper, with a definite aged look to it. There’s something intimate about seeing what appears to be calculations within the lines of a grid. How do you read a piece like this? Curator: Well, considering the materials - ink, pencil, and pastel – tell us Breitner likely created this work rapidly and informally, maybe as a functional exploration of numerical ideas in a notebook. The aged paper speaks to the very tangible processes that define artmaking, resisting purely conceptual understandings of his art. What meaning might you extract from this relationship? Editor: So it’s less about the numbers themselves, and more about the process, the evidence of creation left behind, as if capturing labor through materiality? Curator: Exactly. Think about what sketchbooks signified in the 19th century - tools, commodities available on the market for an emergent urban bohemia. Breitner wasn't creating timeless beauty, but engaging in a daily, material engagement. That is part of its story too. It’s challenging the high/low art boundary isn't it? How does its presence within the Rijksmuseum shift that narrative, then? Editor: I suppose it forces a re-evaluation. Placing an everyday object—a working document—within this context elevates it while simultaneously grounding the more traditional artwork displayed alongside it. I hadn’t considered the social and material context that much. Curator: It also prompts consideration of artistic consumption – is this page "art" or is it data? Editor: It definitely adds a layer I was missing. Seeing art through the lens of materials and production opens up a new avenue for interpretation. Thanks! Curator: Indeed. It is rewarding to peel back those layers of production, isn’t it?