Gezicht op de Schreierstoren te Amsterdam c. 1888

Curator: The first thing that jumps out at me is the sheer delicacy of the lines, like whispers on aged paper. A ghost of Amsterdam emerges. Editor: Indeed! What you're responding to is Willem Koekkoek's “Gezicht op de Schreierstoren te Amsterdam,” a cityscape he rendered around 1888. We’re fortunate to have it here at the Rijksmuseum. It’s a pen and pencil drawing, seemingly lifted directly from one of the artist’s sketchbooks. Curator: A sketchbook, yes! That explains its immediacy. It’s not striving for perfect representation; it's chasing a fleeting impression. The tilting perspective makes it almost dreamlike, as if I’m remembering the tower rather than seeing it. Editor: Absolutely. It’s fascinating how Koekkoek, who hails from a family of celebrated painters known for idealized landscapes, captures something so intimate and unfiltered here. He reveals the underlying infrastructure of representation itself through its loose lines. Notice, for example, how some details fade, allowing our imagination to participate. Curator: I also notice the bareness of the aged paper. All of the surrounding negative space becomes just as interesting as the architectural details that coalesce into the Schreierstoren, almost as if a sort of architectural deconstruction is taking place. Editor: That tension between what's there and what’s not – what's included and what’s left out – echoes larger debates about historical preservation and urban development happening during that time. Amsterdam was modernizing, and landmarks like this held symbolic weight. Drawings such as these carry political tones without bearing any immediately evident slogans or denotations of specific agendas. Curator: Ah, and this almost nostalgic rendering captures a specific emotional quality. Perhaps that of witnessing change… or simply daydreaming. Editor: A very Koekkoekian thing to do, you might say. In this piece, perhaps it speaks volumes about the era’s social complexities that are left out and merely inferred from a quick glimpse. Curator: Right, right. Next time I am in Amsterdam I will be sure to seek out this tower in real life. Editor: Me too. Its depiction holds a certain magnetism, doesn’t it?