Portret van Jan Hofker c. 1905

Editor: Here we have Willem Witsen’s “Portret van Jan Hofker,” circa 1905, housed here at the Rijksmuseum. It's rendered in graphite, pencil, and colored pencil – a really subtle mix of media. The overall tone is quiet and reserved, almost ghostly with that sienna wash in the background. What strikes you when you look at this, and how do you interpret the choices made by the artist? Curator: Well, first off, that ghostly quality you mentioned is spot-on. It feels less like a declaration and more like a whisper. Witsen, he’s not just recording a likeness, is he? He is evoking a mood. And that mood, to me, is tied to a sense of intimacy and quiet observation. I imagine Witsen, perhaps a fellow artist of Hofker, catching him unawares. Editor: An unguarded moment, certainly. It's interesting that you see "intimacy" there. Is it the muted tones, maybe, that contribute to that feeling for you? Curator: I think it’s that, and also the deliberate incompleteness. It's not hyper-realistic. There are suggestions rather than definite lines. He captures the essence, almost as if the portrait is about to dissolve into the paper again. Almost like a memory. Don't you feel that yourself? Like it is right on the edge of existence? Editor: That makes me rethink it – seeing it less as reserved, more as fleeting. Almost like capturing smoke. It is fascinating to think about how much mood an artist can bring about by holding back some details! Curator: Exactly! Absence is just as important as presence, my dear! What have we learned? Perhaps the artist is an editor, not really in his lines and shapes but carefully removing that that detracts from our most meaningful observations of Hofker's portrait. It makes me look differently, and it changes me, too!