Portret van een onbekende jonge vrouw 1836 - 1912

Editor: Here we have "Portret van een onbekende jonge vrouw," an etching by Eugène Smits created sometime between 1836 and 1912. I'm really drawn to how delicate the lines are – it gives the portrait a very intimate, almost dreamlike quality. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Oh, I love that you picked up on the intimacy. For me, it’s a little like stumbling upon a forgotten love letter. The sketchy quality feels so raw, almost as if we are looking at a preliminary sketch before the artist felt the need to "finish" the work. It's beautifully vulnerable, don’t you think? You know, in my opinion, that kind of vulnerability takes a lot of courage to express as an artist. Makes you wonder what he was hoping to convey... or maybe conceal. Editor: That’s a fascinating point. Concealment versus revelation... do you think the fact that the young woman is "unknown" plays into that tension? Curator: Absolutely! It opens up a space for our own projections, doesn’t it? We fill in the blanks. Perhaps she was someone important to Smits, maybe even an amalgamation of women he knew. He’s left her nameless, making her both universal and forever just out of reach. Which I find so human and profoundly relatable, to be honest. It speaks to me on a deeper level about what portraits do, who they portray and who sees them. I think all art aspires to that kind of honesty and reflection. Editor: I didn't think about it that way at first, but it totally clicks. Thanks – I’m seeing this in a whole new light! Curator: You're welcome. And that, my friend, is the whole point, isn't it? To see art, and life, anew!