Boer met een schop, mand en een koe c. 1904 - 1906

Curator: "Boer met een schop, mand en een koe" or "Farmer with a shovel, basket, and a cow", as it translates, is a drawing crafted around 1904-1906 by Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof. Its crafted using pencil and colored pencil. It currently resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Right away, I’m struck by how sweetly peculiar it is! The cow, particularly, looks like it’s been dipped in strawberry milk! There’s a child-like innocence, but also a roughness that’s so charming. Curator: It certainly deviates from traditional realism, doesn't it? I find it interesting how Dijsselhof uses color to perhaps portray the subject's detachment from the realities of agricultural labor at the turn of the century. The vibrant hues disrupt our expectations, asking us to consider this rural figure outside of conventional frameworks. Editor: Detachment...that's a strong word. Perhaps he saw it as a colorful world despite his labor? I find myself thinking about the weight of that shovel and the stories that basket could tell. But you’re right; it also raises questions about representation. Does the artist sanitize labor, or elevate the farmer? Or maybe...maybe he just wanted a pink cow! Curator: Well, such portrayals have historically glossed over the hardships and precarity faced by many agricultural workers, especially during the rapid industrialization of the early 20th century. There is a question on the societal gaze here. Dijsselhof lived in a very different world from this farmer, it seems. The rosy cow complicates the narrative by blurring the lines between the romantic and the real. Editor: True. And the direct gaze of the farmer challenges me to see past my own romanticized assumptions. What does labor truly mean, both then and now? Perhaps this sweet picture has some tough grit behind it! Curator: Precisely! The piece reveals tensions inherent in genre painting— the desire to capture a specific subject, juxtaposed with the inherent limitations of representation, particularly when it comes to labor and class. Editor: What a delightful jolt from something so seemingly simple! It makes you consider what colors YOU'D use to capture your own everyday landscape and what realities, social, artistic, otherwise, come to the forefront. Thank you for giving us that, friend! Curator: The pleasure was all mine. It seems, no matter its initial perception, "Boer met een schop, mand en een koe" invites continued contemplation.