Boerin bij een schuur 1887 - 1952

Curator: "Boerin bij een schuur", or "Farmer's Wife Near a Barn," created between 1887 and 1952, an etching by Chris van der Windt held here at the Rijksmuseum. What are your first impressions? Editor: Somber, stark, and weathered. The composition is dominated by a palette of grays achieved through crosshatching. It’s bleak, yet there’s a quiet strength in the way the woman merges with the landscape. Curator: This print utilizes the etching technique, meaning the artist would have applied acid to a metal plate to create these lines. Van der Windt was working during a period where there was increasing industrialization and an attendant romanticization of rural labor and lifestyle. The physical work embedded in printmaking also highlights these realities. Editor: Yes, I find it telling how the labor involved in depicting rural life mirrors the laborious existence of its subjects. Looking closer, the farmer’s wife appears almost stooped over; we cannot see her face. Her figure becomes intertwined with the barn and even the trees. Is this a comment on the limited role of women within the Dutch agrarian landscape? Curator: Possibly. I also wonder about the economics of printmaking at the time, which democratized images and made them accessible to a broader public. Realism as a style sought to depict the unvarnished truth of everyday life; prints were often the primary medium for this. Editor: This etching evokes the kind of paintings by Millet or even the somber earth tones of early Van Gogh. But its more than just aesthetics. It raises awareness about labor practices, rural poverty and the everyday realities that often go unseen by the elite. How do class and gender intersect here to shape our perception of labor? Curator: Considering those details allows us to better comprehend how artistic materials, techniques and economics together shape the work and it's reception. This connects with our present consideration for sustainable art and fair labor. Editor: And those lines of inquiry illuminate how representation can either reinforce or disrupt historical inequalities. That this small work generates such discussion proves the artwork retains a striking visual voice.