Rechthoekige omlijsting 1876 - 1924

This is Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof's sketch, "Rechthoekige omlijsting," housed here at the Rijksmuseum. The work is characterized by its raw, structural simplicity. Pale pencil lines define what appears to be a frame or border, dissecting the paper into sections of potential space. Dijsselhof engages with the fundamental elements of art: line, form, and composition. The sketch's linear quality invites a reading beyond mere representation. It can be interpreted as a meta-commentary on framing itself—a structural examination of how we demarcate and perceive space. The piece challenges fixed meanings by existing in a liminal state, neither fully formed nor entirely abstract. Dijsselhof prompts questions about how we construct meaning through formal structures. Here, form becomes content, and the act of framing becomes a subject in itself.