Man liggend op een duin met een verrekijker c. 1930 - 1940

Otto Verhagen captured these figures on paper with ink, in a work titled "Man liggend op een duin met een verrekijker," which translates to "Man lying on a dune with binoculars." There’s an intimacy to the sketch, a candidness in the postures of the figures. The male figure, binoculars in hand, is actively looking, searching, maybe even surveilling. The second figure, presumably female, is seated, contemplative, and perhaps smoking. What are they looking at? What are they thinking? This work captures a moment of leisure, but it also hints at the ways in which we observe and are observed, the public and private selves we inhabit. It's a quiet piece, yet it resonates with the complexities of identity, and how we present ourselves to the world, and to each other.