Studieblad, onder andere met een vrouw 1854 - 1914

Editor: This is "Studieblad, onder andere met een vrouw," or "Study Sheet, including a woman," by Albert Neuhuys, dating from around 1854 to 1914. It’s a pencil drawing currently held at the Rijksmuseum. I find it incredibly ethereal; the figures seem to emerge from the page like fleeting memories. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Oh, it whispers stories, doesn’t it? To me, it feels like peering into the artist’s mind. A flurry of ideas captured in graphite, each line a tentative thought. See how the central figures, though roughly sketched, suggest a domestic scene? Almost a genre painting in potentia. Editor: Yes! It's like he was experimenting, trying to find the heart of a larger composition. It reminds me a little bit of those fleeting images one gets when waking from sleep. What about you? Does it strike a chord with your experience or memory of things, Curator? Curator: Absolutely, it has this beautiful unresolved quality, a sketch of an idea instead of a fully realised plan. One is left feeling a profound empathy for Neuhuys at work; it speaks to me of an age defined by realism but felt subjectively. I can relate. There is also a subtle eroticism to some of Neuhuys' studies. You don't see any in this sketch by chance, do you? I seem to find myself easily inclined to a touch of spice where the eyes perceive oneiric forms. Editor: Oh my gosh! To be fair, it didn't initially, but now that you mention it, I can definitely see what you mean. Maybe that's why those smaller figures are arranged as they are. Wow, thank you for opening my eyes. It’s like a whole new dimension of the artwork has revealed itself! Curator: Wonderful. And thanks to you, this feels less like looking "at" art and more like communing with it. Art's supposed to trigger some memory in the flesh. And in turn, leave the body slightly changed from its passing gaze.