Romantisch koppel edellieden met een hond 1897

Editor: Here we have Auguste Danse's "Romantisch koppel edellieden met een hond," or "Romantic Couple of Noblemen with a Dog," a pencil drawing from 1897 currently held in the Rijksmuseum. I’m struck by its lightness. The almost ghostly figures seem plucked from a half-remembered dream. What catches your eye when you look at it? Curator: It does feel like a whisper from another time, doesn't it? For me, it’s the suggestive power of the unfinished. See how Danse suggests rather than defines? The lines are so delicate, so hesitant, it’s like we’re eavesdropping on the very moment of creation, like the artwork isn't resolved, but it’s actually more revealing because of that. What do you think? Does the open form affect your understanding? Editor: Definitely. It makes it feel more intimate. Like a secret shared between the artist and the viewer. Is that typical of Romanticism, this sense of intimacy and unfinished-ness? Curator: It’s certainly one facet. Romanticism, at its heart, was a reaction against the strictures of Neoclassicism. It was all about emotion, imagination, the individual, and often, yes, the embrace of the imperfect, the fragment. The direct expression! It feels unfinished but somehow is perfect exactly the way it is, which I realize makes little sense, but... doesn't it? Editor: I see what you mean. There's an evocative quality. The fuzziness draws you in. This has made me see how intentional it feels, which, initially, it didn't! Thank you! Curator: My pleasure! Sometimes the things we don't see, or barely see, are the most potent of all, and pencil as a tool certainly delivers this effect. Keep those eyes curious, and the heart even more so!