Hangende jas in een donker interieur 1876 - 1924

Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof created this lithograph, “Hangende jas in een donker interieur” or “Coat Hanging in a Dark Interior,” around the turn of the twentieth century. The image shows us a coat suspended against a dark wooden panel, perhaps a door. The Netherlands, at this time, was experiencing rapid industrialization and urbanization, which led to new social anxieties that were echoed in the art world. Dijsselhof, although inspired by the aesthetics of the Symbolist movement, displays in this work a stark simplicity and a focus on everyday objects. What makes the image so unusual is this: it's a portrait of absence. The coat suggests a human presence but also a departure, raising questions about identity and existence in a rapidly changing world. To fully understand such works, historians delve into the social and cultural contexts of the time, including exhibition records and artists' personal writings, to reveal the meanings embedded in such a seemingly simple image.