Tonnen 1890 - 1946

Curator: Cornelis Vreedenburgh’s sketch, simply titled "Tonnen," or "Barrels," offers an intimate glimpse into the artist’s working process. The Rijksmuseum holds this pencil drawing, dating it broadly between 1890 and 1946. Editor: It’s remarkably bare. Almost ghostly. The minimal lines create these vague forms; a rough immediacy captures something about daily labor through these objects. Curator: Precisely. Consider the context: rapid industrialization and its impact on the working class, certainly, but more pointedly how artists grappled with representing the shift of a production-based culture. How does one elevate such ordinary items? Editor: But this isn’t elevating; it's more… raw material. We don't have detail; instead we have something elemental. It reflects not the final product, but how that labor is captured, processed, and distributed for artistic purposes. I’m seeing that reflected here by the page itself—the material reality, even. It is paper from a sketchbook, rather than stretched canvas primed for painting. Curator: And think about the role the sketch played within the broader artistic landscape of that period. Was it intended for public display, or was it a preliminary study, revealing the hand of the artist before a grander statement? How does an institution preserve such private material culture? What gives it meaning when put in a museum setting? Editor: Those are difficult questions. But what is preserved or, rather, made available to the public becomes extremely significant as we look back. This sketch reflects not only its creator, but speaks more broadly about how meaning is made around objects. It challenges any sense of "art" being precious and disconnected from a working process. Curator: And it highlights the agency of the viewer too, our work of interpretation—the act of making something more or less visible as part of the history and culture it resides within. It calls on viewers to actively partake in forming meaning around otherwise unseen or commonplace elements. Editor: Exactly, that this sketch exists invites conversations regarding social issues of class and artistic production. It asks who makes the “art world” to be the space that it is. Curator: Yes, its impact isn't confined to mere subject or artistic intent but speaks volumes about cultural worth and power. Editor: And on its own, in its sparseness, "Tonnen" inspires curiosity and reveals much to us on the social importance of how an art work may evolve over its lifespan.