Staande mannen, mogelijk op een strand c. 1930 - 1940

Curator: Otto Verhagen’s sketch, dating from around 1930 to 1940, titled "Standing Men, Possibly on a Beach," offers an intimate peek into the artist’s world. It’s rendered in pencil on paper, a seemingly casual gathering of figures observed from behind. Editor: My first thought is... melancholic pier. It feels like a silent film still, a collection of slightly awkward strangers pondering the water’s edge. Everyone's so self-contained; you can practically hear the seabirds and the muted sigh of the tide. Curator: That sense of solitude is fascinating, especially considering Verhagen's artistic trajectory. The interwar period was, after all, defined by shifting social landscapes. Could this be interpreted as a study of collective, yet deeply individual, isolation? Editor: Perhaps. Or maybe he was just doodling folks at Scheveningen on a Sunday afternoon, trying to capture the awkward grace of bodies in suits and slightly-too-tight bathing costumes. I get a touch of dry humor here—a little Magritte by way of a Dutch seaside town. Curator: I see that humor, but I am also drawn to the almost sociological quality of the piece. Verhagen captures the nuance of everyday life and social codes. Editor: Exactly! There’s an unintentional documentarian spirit. These sketches unintentionally became social commentaries – candid shots of beachside existentialism. I keep returning to the sketch on the bottom left. Is that a bathing suit or some new-fangled brace? The detail implies real observation of how lives were being lived. Curator: Indeed, and how fascinating that Verhagen, a Dutch artist working in a period of great transformation, was finding meaning not in grand narratives but in such quiet moments. Editor: It just goes to show, sometimes the greatest stories are etched in the margins of sketchbooks, scribbled into being when no one expects them. Thanks, Otto! Curator: A pleasure to revisit this work; Verhagen invites us to question, reflect and appreciate those commonplace scenes that can be so resonant, when viewed through a historical lens.