Ontwerp, mogelijk voor een vliegmachine 1906 - 1945

Curator: I am captivated by this sketch. Found within a sketchbook page held at the Rijksmuseum, this work titled 'Ontwerp, mogelijk voor een vliegmachine', meaning "Design, possibly for a flying machine", made between 1906 and 1945, whispers of dreams taking flight. The medium appears to be pencil and ink on aged paper. What’s your initial reaction? Editor: A nervous energy jumps off the page—the thin lines feel tentative, full of hopeful starts, much like early flight itself. I feel a kind of mechanical anxiety mixed with exhilaration in these geometric forms; what an exciting piece from which to discern that symbolism! Curator: Indeed, you’ve hit on something. The repetitive geometric forms, meticulously drafted, create a rhythm. Almost like a visual language mapping the mechanics of flight; that speaks to Futurism quite vividly to me, even in a sketch. Editor: The diamond shape motif is interesting—like abstracted wings. In many cultures, the diamond represents enlightenment and clarity, a search for higher knowledge. Do you feel that adds meaning to its function as part of the 'flying machine'? It almost feels like a blueprint of ambition. Curator: A 'blueprint of ambition' - I love that description! Ambition fueled by imagination and a sense of visual language. Each individual element might feel simple, but together they convey the fervor to change one's world. Editor: I agree, the futurist impulse makes sense here, to boldly change one’s physical world to soar. There’s an intriguing disconnect, however, between this intense idealism and the rather subdued tones, though, do you sense this at all? As if a grand dream were being sketched in quiet reflection. Curator: Absolutely! That contrast gets at the creative process, no? Ideas, so revolutionary at their core, find their first expressions often in whispers and scribbles, on pages that will one day yellow and crinkle; and there, between the fragility and geometric ideals, something meaningful is created. What an ode to human desire and, through an artifact as simple as the sketchbook page itself, creation.