From Sketch to Painting
How is a work of art created? And what actually happens behind the scenes in the studio? In *The Artist at Work*, you get to look over the painter’s shoulder. From quick sketches and initial ideas to a fully realized masterpiece: this exhibition shows just how much exploration, trial and error, and experimentation often go into a painting.
Through works from its own collection, the Dordrechts Museum brings together artists from different centuries. Self-portraits, studio scenes, sketchbooks, oil sketches, and preparatory studies offer a unique glimpse into the creative process of artists such as Nicolaes Maes, Aert Schouman, Henriëtte Ronner-Knip, Ary Scheffer, Coba Ritsema, Jozef Israëls, Jan Sluijters, and Edgar Fernhout. Several new acquisitions are on view for the first time.
Discover how artists presented themselves, how they worked with models, light, and composition, and how the invention of the paint tube led painters to work outdoors more and more often. From intimate sketches to monumental paintings: you can’t get much closer to the artist than this.
The presentation evokes the atmosphere of a nineteenth-century studio, featuring unique objects, display cases, and surprising combinations of works. The result is an exhibition that focuses not only on the final product, but also on the creative process itself.
