Huisjes tegen de Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam c. 1893s - 1903s

Curator: I’m immediately struck by the immediacy of this work—a few pencil strokes capturing a moment in time. It's so raw. Editor: This is "Houses Against the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam," a drawing by George Hendrik Breitner. The Rijksmuseum tells us it dates from around 1893 to 1903. And raw is a good word for it, in terms of artistic context too. We see how it foreshadows urban and social anxieties and Breitner’s view of city life. Curator: Right! And look at the hurried annotations. It’s like we’re peeking into the artist’s own notebook, seeing what he saw, even noting how he felt: *his mind*. So evocative, that small caption over by the boat sketch… It almost feels like I’m in his head. Editor: Breitner captured Amsterdam during a time of immense social change and economic inequality, but this piece is a fascinating contrast in that regard. There’s a detachment, isn’t there? He draws houses across from Nieuwe Kerk—the New Church—in broad, generalized strokes, with far less regard than for his own thoughts scrawled alongside, or for capturing the lives of inhabitants on paper. The church—a literal foundation—stands boldly against a sea of personal feelings and the changing social structures around him. Curator: I suppose in that way, the church could be a statement about that solid ground, as opposed to… *his mind.* Editor: Indeed! Think, too, about what the “new” in “Nieuwe Kerk” represents in Amsterdam’s development as a whole; it becomes representative of evolving religious structures as well. And the fact that Breitner sketched the Nieuwe Kerk indicates, at least to me, that these shifts—both external and internal—are tied inseparably with these broader structural ones. Curator: Well, you’ve definitely given me a new lens to see this piece through! It felt initially to me so personal, and fleeting—just the scrawlings of a mind in motion. Editor: Precisely. And that it still represents these wider-reaching developments through time too—personal and broadly historical and contextual alike. Curator: A moment captured, then, that speaks volumes. It’s all rather beautifully complicated. Editor: Indeed!