Kinderen spelen met sneeuwballen 1892 - 1947

Gijsbertus Johannes van Overbeek made this pen drawing titled 'Children Playing with Snowballs'. Here we see a vision of childhood in the Netherlands, likely in the early 20th century. In this image, one boy is about to launch a snowball while another sits perched on what looks like a bucket. A third is in the process of loading up his snowball arsenal. In the background, the fashionable parents and their other child watch on, perhaps disapproving of the children’s antics. The scene evokes questions about social class and the experience of childhood. Are the snowball fighters working class children amusing themselves in the street? Is the family more bourgeois? The location certainly plays a role. The family stands behind the children, as if in opposition to them. It is tempting to imagine the work as a commentary on the social structures of its time. Further investigation into van Overbeek's biography and the cultural context of the Netherlands in the early 20th century might shed more light on the potential social critique embedded in this seemingly simple scene.