Gebogen vrouwenhoofd 1880 - 1882

This is "Gebogen vrouwenhoofd", a pencil drawing by George Hendrik Breitner, housed here at the Rijksmuseum. Observe the woman’s face tilted upwards, her eyes seemingly fixed on something beyond our view, while her hands are clasped in front of her. This is an attitude of supplication, or prayer, a gesture deeply embedded in our collective consciousness. Consider the orant pose—a figure with arms raised in prayer—found in the catacombs of early Christian art, or even the depictions of ancient priestesses in Minoan culture, raising their hands to the heavens. In both, this motif appears. Here in Breitner’s sketch, though devoid of explicit religious context, this same gesture evokes a sense of yearning or spiritual seeking. This harkens back to ancient rituals, where similar gestures were believed to bridge the gap between humanity and the divine. The gesture is a universal human expression, resurfacing across cultures and epochs, evolving yet echoing its origins, and engaging our subconscious through a powerful and cyclical repetition of the same motif.