Planten 1862 - 1864

Curator: "Planten," or "Plants," from sometime between 1862 and 1864, crafted with pencil on paper by Johannes Tavenraat. It's held here at the Rijksmuseum. What’s your initial take? Editor: It feels so fleeting. Like a quick sketch grabbed from a summer afternoon. Whispers of wind and green... barely there. Curator: Absolutely. Tavenraat, who mostly worked in landscape, was devoted to realism, using landscapes to express a larger appreciation for what’s natural. His connection to art involved his participation in cultural and intellectual settings. Editor: I can see it, that impulse to catch the truth of a thing. Notice how economical the strokes are? Just a few lines to suggest texture and form. There are plants that become merely suggestion as a form for him to communicate more with his personal truth about a concept, like the beauty and fragility that lies in life. It's poetry with a pencil! Curator: These sketchbooks are important to our understanding of 19th century aesthetic movements and practices. They were central in the making of art accessible to the public—a function these books would sometimes serve directly when opened to be looked at within someone’s drawing room. Editor: Thinking about those drawing rooms… it adds another layer to the fragility. Imagine these delicate renderings, passed around, pondered, and carefully stored. Each stroke becoming a gesture of intimacy! Curator: Precisely. Art circulating through social rituals. These drawings help connect aesthetic culture, artistic practice, and social value! Editor: There’s a gentleness in its detail and form. Almost like a secret language. What if he imagined they carried an actual botanical truth—revealing more about what’s going on than is visibly perceivable at face value? Curator: Perhaps. Tavenraat creates such intimacy of appreciation. To sit so quietly and study! Editor: Well, Johannes Tavenraat's intimate whispers definitely sparked something new for me today. Thanks for unveiling a different lens!