Studie 1888

Curator: This little graphite sketch, titled "Studie," was created by George Hendrik Breitner around 1888. It resides here at the Rijksmuseum and looks to me like the quick scribblings in an artist's notebook. What do you make of it? Editor: Initially, I'm struck by its fragmentary nature. It feels almost…spectral. The sparse lines hint at forms, leaving so much to the imagination. Considering its age and origin, it evokes for me questions about the construction of visibility—who is seen, and how? What stories aren't being told? Curator: Absolutely, spectral is the right word! It does have that sense of a fleeting impression, caught just before it disappears. Perhaps this study of fleeting moments is his artistic style—capturing the transient rather than solidifying permanence. The sketch certainly emphasizes process over product. Editor: I agree about that fleeting impression. Thinking about Impressionism, Breitner, and the late 19th century in a rapidly urbanizing Amsterdam: whom does he choose to represent in his sketches, his final paintings, his photographs? Who gains access to representation and who remains ghostlike, existing on the periphery? These impressions—almost like the memories of lived moments—serve as archives but incomplete ones. Curator: You know, the anonymity of these sketches kind of fascinates me. By not detailing, he universalizes. Perhaps the beauty lies in finding our own faces reflected in these ghostly traces. It's as though Breitner leaves us room to co-create the narrative, which might be viewed as a form of generosity. Editor: I see that reading and the generosity—to some extent, as these open-ended invitations create possibilities of entry for a wider audience. Yet it is still crucial to acknowledge these pieces came into being when a rigid social hierarchy prevailed. To ask questions about the unrecorded stories that were purposefully excluded. That space for interpretation is still very much defined by power relations. Curator: Well, you’ve certainly nudged me to see beyond just the aesthetic quality of this sketch, to consider the socio-political undertones humming beneath its surface. Makes you wonder what conversations this little page sparked back then. Editor: And it inspires us to keep having those conversations, doesn’t it? To push beyond the surface, confront uncomfortable histories and imagine a future where all stories get their due space.