Triomfboog c. 1901

Editor: Here we have Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof's "Triomfboog," created around 1901. It’s a pencil and etching on paper, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It feels very preliminary, like architectural sketches in a notebook, focused on details rather than the whole. What do you see in this piece, something beyond just an unfinished study? Curator: For me, it's the incompleteness that sings! It's a dance of form, a meditation on edges and curves. Notice how Dijsselhof plays with line – some bold, assertive; others tentative, searching. It’s less about depicting a specific arch and more about exploring the *idea* of an arch. It reminds me of poetry – fragmented glimpses of a grander vision. Does the visible lined notebook paper add something for you? Editor: Absolutely. The lines really underscore that sense of process and impermanence. You know, it feels a bit like seeing the ghost of a building. I hadn’t considered that it could be about the idea, or essence, of an arch. Curator: Exactly! Think about it – arches represent triumph, passage, transition. Dijsselhof strips away the monumentality and leaves us with just the skeleton, the *potential* for triumph. It's incredibly modern, in a way. I also appreciate how Dijsselhof seems to anticipate your viewing, filling his drawing with partial perspectives to pique interest. How does that perspective change how you view architecture as art? Editor: I hadn’t made that connection! I now see Dijsselhof inviting me into the architectural process itself, rather than just presenting a finished product. Thanks to that the architectural drawing takes on its own significance beyond its original goal. Curator: Precisely! And maybe, in its incompleteness, it speaks more powerfully to the possibilities inherent in architecture than any perfectly rendered facade could. An invitation to fill in the blanks, perhaps?