Ontwerp voor schildering Algemene Nederlandsche Diamantbewerkersbond: Vrijheid 1878 - 1938

Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst made this design for a painting for the Dutch Diamond Workers’ Union, probably using pencil and watercolour. I imagine Holst coaxing the image into being, a figure stepping boldly forward, caught in a swirl of symbolic forms. The palette is restrained – muted purples, ochres, and creams – giving the work a kind of dreamlike quality. It reminds me of Puvis de Chavannes' murals, those allegorical figures frozen in time and space. What was Holst thinking as he painted this? Maybe he saw himself as an artist-activist, using his art to uplift the working class. I wonder about the weight of responsibility he felt, how that might translate into the careful, almost tentative brushstrokes. The flowing lines of the drapery and the figure’s pose suggest movement, yet everything is held in place by the circle’s firm edge. Painting is like that, isn’t it? A constant negotiation between freedom and constraint, a conversation across time.