Kop met opengesperde mond en ogen c. 1858

Editor: This is "Head with Gaping Mouth and Eyes" a pencil drawing from around 1858, located here at the Rijksmuseum. There’s a rawness to it, like a quickly jotted note about intense emotion. How do you interpret this work? Curator: Well, seeing this drawing through a contemporary lens, I immediately consider questions of vulnerability and the performativity of emotion, especially in the 19th century. Whose vulnerability was considered acceptable for display, and in what contexts? Was this for medical study, for example? The wide-open mouth and eyes could signify shock, pain, even hysteria. How might gender or class have informed the subject’s position, literally and figuratively? Editor: Hysteria? Curator: Yes. The 19th century was a hotbed for pathologizing female emotional expression. Consider the power dynamics at play when a doctor or artist captures such a raw, seemingly uncontrolled, state. But, thinking more about this image, it could also represent political voicelessness or shock at witnessing injustice. Editor: I see. It makes you wonder if this is less about personal feeling and more a reflection on society itself. Curator: Precisely! Art is never created in a vacuum. Even a simple sketch like this resonates with the social and political currents of its time. The drawing's raw intensity begs the question: Whose screams were heard, and whose were ignored? Editor: I appreciate how you brought a social and historical understanding to what I saw as just an emotional portrait. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure! Analyzing art is all about understanding the conversations artworks can provoke across time.