Interieur van boerenschuur 1874 - 1925

Jan Veth made this drawing of the interior of a barn using crayon around the turn of the twentieth century. It’s a familiar scene of rural life, but what did it mean to represent the countryside in this way at this time? The image creates meaning through an appeal to the idea of the traditional life of the Netherlands, a life of the past in which the population was more rural, and culture was more traditional. By the 1890s, in the period that Veth made this work, this way of life was under threat due to industrialization and urbanization. The art market was changing too, becoming more commercialized, with less institutional support. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam was founded in the late nineteenth century with the express purpose of preserving Dutch cultural heritage. Jan Veth's image is interesting in its negotiation between the past and the present. To understand it fully, we might consult historical records, literature, and archives that tell us about the changing image of the Netherlands at this time.