Fotoreproduktie van schilderij Vrouw met voile door George Hendrik Breitner c. 1890 - 1920

This oil on canvas by George Hendrik Breitner is called 'Woman with a Veil'. What’s immediately striking is how he’s built this face out of grey-blue smudges. It must have been a process of adding, subtracting, and re-adjusting, as the woman’s face struggles to emerge from the grey. The paint is applied thinly, with a rough, almost dry brush, creating a textured surface. The veil itself is barely there, just a few strokes that suggest its presence, adding to the mystery. I wonder what Breitner was thinking about as he worked on this—whether he struggled to capture something fleeting, something almost invisible. Painters have been exploring the face and what lies behind it for centuries. Each brushstroke here feels like a little meditation on the nature of appearance and reality, not to mention a long conversation that all painters have been having with one another over time.