Mannenhoofd met hoed en een vrouw met een kind aan de hand c. 1886 - 1923

This charcoal drawing by George Hendrik Breitner captures a fleeting moment with its stark simplicity. The composition is divided unevenly, featuring a woman and child on the left, and a man's head on the right. Breitner's lines are raw and economical, creating forms that are suggestive rather than definitive. This minimalistic approach disrupts conventional representation. Instead, the use of rough sketches offers multiple perspectives within the same frame. The figures are set against a background filled with scribbled names and addresses, which adds layers of meaning and disrupts the distinction between subject and background. The interplay between text and image challenges the structural norms of portraiture. The composition invites us to consider how art can destabilize fixed meanings and explore new ways of thinking about space, perception and representation.