Het nijlpaard 1894 - 1959

Editor: So, here we have "Het nijlpaard," or "The Hippopotamus," a print dating somewhere between 1894 and 1959 from the Rijksmuseum. It’s… unexpectedly charming for a hippopotamus. I’m drawn to the almost whimsical feel of it, despite its subject. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see echoes of cultural fascination with the "exotic" animal, almost like a bestiary illustration from a bygone era. Watercolours, even in print form, possessed a certain…accessibility in visual culture at the turn of the 20th Century. It presents, in effect, a kind of encounter with ‘otherness’. Editor: Otherness? In what way? It feels rather… well, domestic. Curator: Precisely! Notice how the artist softens the hippo, rendering it almost huggable. The hippo became a symbol. A signifier divorced from lived experience and reshaped, in ways that made it palatable to a European audience. A transfer of cultural anxiety onto the beast, you could almost say. Do you get that sense? Editor: I can see that now. It’s as if it’s meant to be cute or non-threatening in some way... quite at odds with their actual reputation. Curator: Indeed. This is part of the historical fascination with exotic animals, reshaping their identity to project human values and expectations, with very limited cultural or emotional contexts. It is fascinating how enduring those values remain. Editor: I never would have thought of it like that. Now the piece seems far more complex than before. Thank you for your help in clarifying. Curator: My pleasure. The hippopotamus here embodies more than its corporeal form. It’s cultural memory, embedded in visual symbols that continue to evolve even today.