Studie, mogelijk van een hoofd 1880 - 1882

This undated sketch, possibly of a head, comes to us from the hand of George Hendrik Breitner. Breitner worked during a period of significant social change in the Netherlands, marked by increasing industrialization and urbanization, which is perhaps what is most striking about this piece, as he has combined the artistic and the mathematical. Breitner was known for his interest in capturing the lives of ordinary people. He moved in anarchist circles and associated with the literary group the Tachtigers, or the Eighties Movement. These artists often focused on realism and naturalism, turning their attention to everyday life, and the working classes. Breitner, though he came from a privileged background, was interested in depicting the realities of Dutch society, including the experiences of women. Look closely, can you make out the form of the head, and what might the mathematical calculations mean? It's in these tensions—the artistic and the arithmetical, the beautiful and the everyday, that the work finds its resonance. Breitner’s sketch invites us to reflect on the complexities of identity and representation in a rapidly changing world.