Studies 1876 - 1924

Curator: What first strikes you about this unassuming study, shrouded in soft, almost shy lines? Editor: Melancholy, instantly. It’s faint, ghostly… as if it’s fading before my eyes. I think that mood mostly emerges from the limited pencil work that lends this study an unfinished, quiet presence. Curator: That’s a lovely way to put it. It's “Studies”, a pencil drawing by Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof created between 1876 and 1924. You can find it here at the Rijksmuseum, nestled among Dijsselhof’s works. And that sense of something fading… I think it speaks to the inherent temporality of studies, right? Little fleeting moments captured, almost like visual notes, or half-formed dreams. Editor: Exactly. It feels less about polished execution and more about the raw exploration of form. Is that a fish, poised in mid-swim? Or perhaps a strange, underwater fruit hanging overhead? The composition resists firm definition, drifting through impressions of the scene. Curator: You’ve nailed it. Dijsselhof had an interesting relationship with symbolism. There’s an openness to interpretation, a quiet suggestion of something just beyond our grasp. You see it most vividly in that… let’s call it “aquatic presence”. The strokes there give depth through shading alone. He captures life by barely depicting it. Editor: And even technically, the lack of distinct, bold lines gives it this beautiful softness. We're not presented with absolutes but suggestions—hints. The artist isn't dictating meaning. Instead, the formal structure creates room for the viewer to participate and, to some extent, complete the study through their own understanding. Curator: That resonates deeply. We become complicit in bringing this liminal scene to life, to defining its uncertain forms and finding what lies latent inside the study. Editor: A fine invitation into the unfinished. Curator: Exactly—into possibility itself.