Hoofd 1874 - 1923

Curator: I find this work strangely affecting. "Hoofd," simply meaning "Head," by Willem Witsen, was created between 1874 and 1923. It's a pencil drawing on paper, held here at the Rijksmuseum. What's your immediate impression? Editor: Stark, almost brutally unfinished. The isolation of the partial face against that vast expanse of paper speaks volumes. Like a fragment of a dream, or a repressed memory surfacing. Curator: Precisely! It's like we're only being granted a glimpse, a snatched moment of intimacy, of someone's inner world. That single, watchful eye… what do you make of it? Editor: Eyes are portals, aren’t they? Mirrors of the soul, as they say. But here, that eye, rendered with such detail in contrast to the rest, feels like both an invitation and a warning. Like it sees right through you, yet holds back a crucial secret. Curator: And the way the line darkens and thickens around the jawline suggests a strength, a certain will, struggling to emerge from the sketch. The uncompleted form actually heightens the drama. Editor: Yes, the negative space dominates, but doesn't feel empty. It amplifies the weight of the visible portion. It feels symbolically charged, that the unspoken is somehow as important as what's represented. It’s almost haunting, really. Curator: There's a rawness, an immediacy that finished portraits often lack. We're seeing something essentially human—unfinished, searching, perhaps vulnerable. Editor: Perhaps Witsen intended it that way, this suggestion of incompleteness? Or was this a discarded fragment? The lack of context becomes context. Curator: Exactly. It's that incompleteness that lingers. It invites you to imagine the rest, to co-create the narrative. What secrets is the complete face trying to tell us? Editor: Well, I am completely taken by its stark elegance. The simplicity enhances it. It’s amazing how just a fragment can feel like a whole world, if it manages to say it with a compelling image. Curator: Beautifully put. It's a powerful testament to the artist's ability to convey emotion with minimal means, an eye observing its beholder through time.