Portret van Wilhelmina, koningin der Nederlanden 1947

Sierk Schröder painted this portrait of Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands, and the whole thing feels a bit… tentative? The palette is restrained, almost greyed-out. It's like he's feeling his way through the painting, searching for the right tones to capture her presence. I’m curious about how he began, and what he was aiming to show. I ask myself as a painter, what was he working through? Up close, you can see the brushstrokes in the Queen's robe. They're soft, feathery, and they give the fabric a sense of movement. It’s a veil that adds to the emotional tone, that of a distant past. And the red of the carpet adds a little jolt of energy. This piece reminds me of some of those more muted portraits by Whistler, where the subject seems to fade into the background. Ultimately, the piece embraces ambiguity. What do you think?