Kopf einer Frau mit Dutt nach rechts 1848

Editor: This is "Kopf einer Frau mit Dutt nach rechts," or "Head of a Woman with a Bun, Facing Right," by Victor Müller, made around 1848. It’s a drawing using pencil and chalk on paper and is at the Städel Museum. Looking at it, I'm struck by how simple it is, yet it evokes a certain... quiet intensity. What do you see in it? Curator: Oh, she speaks to me, that woman! The lines, so delicately laid down, seem to capture a fleeting thought, a secret the artist glimpsed. Müller, wrestling with the burgeoning Realism of the time, yet still tethered to Romanticism... he's caught between worlds here. It feels almost as if she knows she’s being looked at, doesn't it? The slight tension in her jaw... I wonder what she's thinking. Do you feel any of that tension? Editor: I do, now that you mention it! It's subtle, but definitely there. I initially just saw her as serene. The fact it’s a drawing, not a painting, makes it feel even more personal. Curator: Exactly! Drawings are whispers, aren't they? Less performance, more intimacy. And that bun! Such a commonplace detail, elevated to art. It grounds her, makes her real. Editor: So, the mundane becomes meaningful... That’s interesting. Curator: Isn’t it always the way? Art is so often a magician's trick – transforming the ordinary into something…extraordinary. Makes you want to pick up a pencil, doesn't it? Editor: It does! I might try a sketch tonight. I hadn't considered how much a simple portrait could convey. Curator: And that’s the beauty of it. We look, we see, and suddenly, the world has shifted just a little.