Zij-ingang met houten trap van de Krom Boomssloot 69 in Amsterdam c. 1906

Curator: This etching before us is entitled "Zij-ingang met houten trap van de Krom Boomssloot 69 in Amsterdam," or "Side entrance with wooden stairs of Krom Boomssloot 69 in Amsterdam." Willem Witsen created it around 1906. It’s an ink print on paper, held here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: It's darling, in a melancholic way. Like a faded memory. All soft grays, suggesting damp cobblestones and the quiet rustle of something unseen. Is that a little person standing near the steps? It seems almost haunting, don't you think? Curator: The 'haunting' is intriguing in light of Amsterdam's complex urban history. Witsen often depicted such unassuming scenes, but these quiet corners often carried the weight of socio-economic realities—gentrification, poverty, class divides that defined urban life then and now. The child, especially, stands in stark contrast to the building's architecture, an almost spectral witness to those historical forces. Editor: Yes, precisely. The lines seem delicate and the choice of such a common, even mundane subject elevates it, imbuing it with unspoken stories. What were those little steps witness to, one wonders? Love trysts, furtive departures, tearful returns? All left unsaid, but wonderfully implied by the masterful strokes of Willem Witsen. The opening in the house beckons; is this supposed to be inviting, and to whom? Curator: Such buildings in Amsterdam became stages where personal lives and social policies intersected, determining who had access and under what conditions. Considering Amsterdam's robust history with capitalism, we can observe these etched doorways as an indicator of the access or limitations within burgeoning financial systems that have influenced life still to this day. Editor: Ultimately, it’s that whisper of human presence—of daily life unfolding just beyond the edge of the visible—that enthralls. Curator: A silent scream for a visual past. Editor: That lives quietly today in this space.