Orgelspelende monnik c. 1850 - 1891

Editor: This is Johannes Bosboom’s "Orgelspelende Monnik," dating from around 1850 to 1891. It's a pencil drawing on paper, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. The sketch feels so immediate and intimate. What's your read on this piece? Curator: Immediate, yes! Like catching a fleeting thought, a whisper of a moment. For me, Bosboom’s sketches are these little windows into hushed spaces, echoing with the imagined sounds of devotion. The monk, hunched over the organ... is it an act of reverence or laborious practice? It’s both, I suspect. Editor: I hadn't thought about the laborious side! The drawing's so spare; there's no sense of grand cathedral, only this private communion. Curator: Exactly! Bosboom loved these quiet, interior scenes. He uses the pencil to create a feeling of soft light filtering through… perhaps a stained-glass window we can't see. The light caressing the monk’s form, suggesting a weight, a presence, more substantial than the quickly drawn lines might suggest. Notice, also, the subtle details around the organ. It’s a framework, suggesting depth and a larger space, without spelling it out. He’s making us do some work, filling in the gaps, isn’t he? Editor: He is! Almost like he’s trusting the viewer to imagine the rest. Do you think the vagueness invites the viewer to connect more deeply? Curator: I do. The incompleteness allows our own experiences, our own understandings of spirituality and devotion, to colour the piece. Art becomes more of a collaborative effort. Don’t you think? Editor: Absolutely. It becomes less about observation and more about... participating. I see this drawing with fresh eyes now. Thank you! Curator: And thank you! It's always lovely to share these whispers of art with someone.