Kade met zeilboten in Wimmereux 2007

Curator: There's an almost nostalgic quality to this drawing; a serene calmness. Editor: I see that too. We’re looking at "Kade met zeilboten in Wimmereux" by Rein Dool, created in 2007. It’s an ink drawing on paper, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It feels quite…deliberately sparse. Curator: Sparse, yes, but also economical. Each line seems carefully considered to evoke the scene, from the boats resting on the kade to the suggestion of figures along the shoreline. What visual cues tell us that these are zeilboten? Editor: You know, it strikes me how little the scene has likely changed over the decades, perhaps even centuries. Fishing communities persist, though the function and aesthetic of the boats are certainly influenced by modern socioeconomic and political currents. I wonder about Wimmereux today; has tourism significantly altered it? Curator: Likely so. And in that vein, notice how Dool focuses our gaze, essentially cropping out elements of modern life—creating, if unintentionally, a romanticized scene detached from a specific temporality. Editor: I agree. It also reveals the cultural memory that these scenes hold; the collective imagining of quaint seasides of simpler times. We still hold the sailboat as a symbol for leisure, which can explain why many still make the subject for artistic endeavors today. I am interested though if there’s a different reading when considering what those with the means, that enjoy the leisure and own the boats that Rein depicts here. Curator: An important layer to unpack: what does this visual vocabulary mean for its different social groups, in reality and in aspirations? Consider those distant figures at the water's edge. Their anonymity lets us imagine them and in effect inhabit them, regardless of class. I’d posit the sailboats in general operate in this manner—visual receptacles to imagine our better selves and experiences into. Editor: It becomes a shared cultural image, then, molded and re-molded by the dreams and experiences of varied audiences, doesn't it? Thanks for prompting a fresh viewpoint on this deceptively modest artwork! Curator: Indeed, a potent demonstration how simple lines can hold layers of meaning. Thank you.