Vrouw die appels schilt en een man in de gang 1831 - 1892

Curator: I find myself drawn into this quiet domestic scene. Editor: It certainly evokes a particular stillness, a sense of daily routine and modest circumstances rendered in watercolor. Curator: This piece, by Johannes Stroebel, titled "Vrouw die appels schilt en een man in de gang," or "Woman Peeling Apples and a Man in the Hallway" dates sometime between 1831 and 1892, and is held at the Rijksmuseum. Stroebel, while known for portraiture, was also working in a tradition of Dutch Golden Age genre painting. Editor: I notice that checkered floor and the woman's activity, meticulously peeling apples...what labor is present? What does that say about access and production? There's a clear distinction between labor in the home for the woman, versus implied external activities by the man, considering he’s wearing that very stylish wide-brim hat. It speaks volumes about division of labor, wouldn't you say? Curator: Indeed. Consider the history of genre painting; these depictions of everyday life often carry loaded social messages. A closer look suggests commentary on gender roles, the space of domesticity against the world of commerce. The presence of the man disrupts what would be the complete enclosure of female existence in the home, giving some depth, perhaps escape. It hints at social structures, a snapshot of the bourgeois. Editor: The use of watercolor is quite compelling as well. It feels light, airy even; not at all representative of the heaviness implied in these circumstances of the labor presented in this setting. There is clear tension between the media and what the piece tries to suggest. And is that "mixed media"? What would be combined here to have achieved such an intricate drawing? Curator: Indeed, "mixed media" it is said to be. Stroebel was making use of multiple tools to add textures and tones. I think the medium provides the advantage of intimacy. You, as the viewer, become complicit, privy to this very common scene and perhaps forced to analyze all these relations. This painting is about so much more than domesticity. It shows hierarchies playing themselves out even at the most micro level of the home. Editor: Thank you for revealing what it presents, even with quiet, mundane settings like that. I came here ready to see apples peeled, I'm leaving with something so much bigger.