Vrouw met hoed, in profiel 1887 - 1934

Curator: Oh, there’s a sort of melancholic charm to it, isn’t there? Raw, unfinished, like a secret whispered in charcoal. Editor: Well, let's begin by grounding our listeners. What we're looking at is a pencil sketch titled "Vrouw met hoed, in profiel," or "Woman with a Hat, in Profile," by Isaac Israels. It’s thought to have been made sometime between 1887 and 1934 and it now resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Curator: Israels definitely caught a fleeting moment. She could be anyone—passing on the street, a daydream… Editor: The work exemplifies the characteristics we find in impressionist portraiture, doesn't it? Note the structural reduction into pure strokes that form dark tonal masses, almost obscuring any real facial details other than a sense of general outline. There is even a fascinating geometrical dynamic between hat and face, and then face and neck. Curator: I’m with you—it’s all in the angles and shadows. You can almost feel the city around her, even though it’s barely suggested in the background, a bit like the feeling in some of Degas’ street scenes. She becomes the figure who encapsulates an environment without ever having to be physically in that environment. Editor: Exactly! We're presented with this rather beautiful semiotic density, right? This is a moment where her literal representation blurs; she exists in the implied, not the defined, much like those street scenes we find cropping up within Impressionism. Curator: Almost like seeing the city *through* her, instead of around her. Maybe that's the core of the impressionist ethos. Editor: Possibly, possibly... it also pushes the boundaries of the medium, I'd argue, reducing form down to it's skeletal and almost non-figurative form. Curator: It invites you to wonder about her story—what’s she thinking? Where is she going? Editor: Perhaps the power is in the invitation to wonder. Its sketch-like form leaves all interpretative possibilities suspended. Curator: Precisely. A story untold, but profoundly felt. Editor: Leaving our viewers a space for their projections, dreams, and, dare I say, imagination. A smart touch, wouldn’t you agree?