Twee studies van een vleugel 1865 - 1913

Curator: There’s something wonderfully evocative about this pencil drawing titled "Twee studies van een vleugel", or “Two Studies of a Grand Piano” which dates between 1865 and 1913. It’s currently held at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My first impression is of a faded dream, almost. The lines are so faint, so fleeting, like a half-remembered melody clinging to the edges of consciousness. Curator: It definitely possesses an ephemeral quality. There are actually two pianos depicted here, at different angles. It's impressionistic in style, more focused on conveying atmosphere and feeling rather than exact detail. How does it sit within a historical understanding of Dutch drawing at this time? Editor: You see a burgeoning middle class and their growing cultural aspirations being represented more and more in art. Depicting the grand piano as a luxury item placed within their interior serves the function of showing what one could acquire by playing their cards right. It has more depth when placed into a system of visual consumption and signifiers that it exists within. Curator: I feel you there. And that interplay of dark shading to illustrate the form and placement of pianos against negative space is so good; it really draws attention to their geometry while imbuing them with a soulfulness, almost as though the musical forms are speaking to us. Do you get that sense of inherent drama when viewing it? Editor: Well, "drama" might be pushing it for me. I read them more as rather imposing displays, almost staged within the available setting. The chair to the side appears discarded after the performer or listener takes to somewhere else, giving off an emptiness for what can often become loud and intense musical output. Curator: Discarded maybe... or just resting, between sets. Each is in such stark black with surrounding light – there’s some inherent human experience waiting to get sung by both keys. I can almost hear it as though time stood still with the room forever in the wings waiting its reprise! Editor: True. And by looking into this drawing, we might think differently about how art serves various roles, sometimes reflecting on history itself and always, consciously or not, being reflective of ourselves.