Zeilschepen 1890 - 1946

Curator: Let’s take a look at “Zeilschepen,” or “Sailing Ships,” a sketch by Cornelis Vreedenburgh, dating sometime between 1890 and 1946, housed right here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Oh, my, it’s so delicate! Like a whisper of a memory, almost faded but still clinging to the paper. It gives me a strangely melancholic, yet peaceful, feeling. Curator: Interesting. I see a direct engagement with the materiality of artmaking. The lightness of the pencil strokes, the suggestive incompleteness…it highlights the labor involved in artistic creation, even at this preliminary stage. The choice of paper itself becomes significant. Was it easily available? How does its texture influence the drawing? These sketches, originally born inside a personal sketchbook, showcase how art is enmeshed with day-to-day resources and working conditions. Editor: You see the hard work, and I appreciate that, but it also feels like the artist just jotted down a feeling, a fleeting impression. It's more about the gesture than a perfect depiction, almost dreamlike and ethereal, you know? Did he plan to return and work up each sketch further? We can never know. Curator: Precisely. The unrefined quality actually illuminates the early stages of artistic production. We’re witnessing Vreedenburgh in the midst of grappling with form and composition, the initial groundwork for the artwork to come. These are likely boats he viewed on trips out to sea or around Dutch harbors. Think of the labor, also, of building and sailing those boats, that the artist seeks to represent. Editor: Exactly! To catch a glimpse into someone's mind is rare and inspiring. These light lines of sketches carry their own weight in the end, showing a bit of humanity and fragility we sometimes lose in grandiose masterworks. Curator: Indeed. They provide vital insight into the artistic processes underpinning the creation of “high art,” underscoring the fact that even celebrated artworks begin with such rudimentary sketches, materials and work. Editor: Makes you consider how much unseen work, both of creation and hard labor, exists all around us!