Sudies van een lezende vrouw en een hond 1892 - 1916

Rik Wouters made this ink drawing, Studies of a Reading Woman and a Dog, at the beginning of the twentieth century, a period when the traditional roles of women in European society were being questioned and renegotiated. Here, Wouters sketches a woman in various poses as she is caught up in the act of reading. The inclusion of the dog suggests a domesticity, a quiet intimacy, yet the woman's engagement with her book places her in a sphere of intellect, separate from the conventional confines of the home. There is something inherently vulnerable about these sketches. The rough lines and unfinished quality invite us into a private moment, one where the woman is free to explore her own thoughts and ideas. The dog, a symbol of loyalty and companionship, further emphasizes the deeply personal nature of this scene. Wouters manages to capture not just the image of a woman reading, but the feeling of it, the sense of being transported to another world, one shaped by words and imagination. It’s a poignant portrayal of female intellectual life during a period of immense social change.