Twee hoeden c. 1890 - 1900

Curator: Here we have George Hendrik Breitner’s drawing, "Twee hoeden", or "Two Hats," dating from approximately 1890 to 1900. It’s currently held here at the Rijksmuseum. It appears to be a simple pencil sketch on paper. Editor: It feels unfinished, raw. The lines are so immediate. You can almost see the artist's hand moving across the page. The hats are rendered so differently; it’s like he’s exploring multiple ways of depicting the same object. Curator: Precisely. Breitner was known for his engagement with everyday life, especially within Amsterdam's bustling streets, and using impressionism style for it, of course. He sought to capture fleeting moments. This sketch gives us insight into his working process. Consider how quickly trends in fashion and design circulated through burgeoning urban consumer culture at the time, too. The hats were very much material objects within a complex social web. Editor: Absolutely, I'm wondering if these hats reflect different social classes. Breitner, through these mere sketches, grants access to specific strata of late 19th-century Dutch society. I would suggest also, for consideration, that it may speak to the performative nature of identity through adornment, and its visual representation. Curator: That’s an interesting perspective! One might also consider the economic side; where were these hats produced, by whom, and what did their creation signify in terms of labor? It appears to be on lined notebook paper as well; such commonplace supplies offer some grounding to this artistic moment. Editor: Indeed, bringing the artist back to the realities of their time. How might these sketches have informed later works? Were these hat studies ever transferred to a painting or a more finished work for public consumption? Curator: It makes you wonder. His interest in the photographic image, and mechanical reproducibility could well link into his material practice and production too. Editor: Looking at it this way, the sketch functions as a document of material and social interaction. Fascinating how such an ordinary object depicted with minimal lines, provides such depth when carefully investigated within history! Curator: A look into a particular, working world indeed, as well as of representation within the late 19th-century Dutch life.