ORIGINAL ARTWORK
P.J. Lutgers in Het Utrechts Archief

WHO'S WHO IN THE FAMILY?
Anna Agnes Witsen
Willem Arnold Witsen
Cobi Witsen
Jonas Jan Witsen

MORE INFO ABOUT ANNA
Timeline Anna Witsen

MORE INFO ABOUT EIGHTIERS (TACHTIGERS)
Movement of Eighties (Tachtigers)
Works by Willem Witsen

READ ANNA'S LETTERS
Letter 1
Letter 2
Letter 3

WEATHER FORECAST MARCH 5, 1889

Weather on March 5, 1889

DIARY ENTRY
Frederik van Eeden, April 6, 1889 (in Dutch)

GENDER EQUALITY TODAY
Global Gender Gap Report 2020
Standpunt.nl

DOWNLOAD ARTIST STATEMENT
Artist Statement Songs for soprano in Dutch
Artist Statement Songs for soprano in English
General Artist Statement Jitske Schols

ARTWORKS ASSOCIATED WITH ANNA'S DEATH
HERMAN GORTER, IN DEN ZWARTEN NACHT... (1889)
JULIUS RÖNTGEN, ABSCHIED (1889)
TUIN DER WEEEN, JAN TOOROP
FRANS COENEN, VERVREEMD

Songs for soprano

“I can not sing when I am not feeling happy, that is very different when painting or perhaps very much the same.” -Anna Witsen

‘Songs for soprano, a photo essay on the life and times of Anna Witsen’, tells the story of an aristocratic young woman with impossible singing ambitions, depressions and an unrequited love at the end of the 19th century. The dogmatic ideas about the position of women and how to fulfill that role in that time meant for a woman of Anna’s position that she should not be who she wanted to be: a professional soprano singer. This finally led to her tragic self-chosen death on March 5, 1889.

Is gender equality better today? Maybe a little, but certainly not entirely. It was only recently announced that the opportunities for Dutch women in the economic and political field deteriorated in 2019. This is one of the reasons why the Netherlands has dropped from 27th to 38th place on the Global Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

By telling Anna’s story, I hope to draw attention to this theme. After all, equal rights and opportunities for everyone are essential for development, prosperity and peace I think.

Artist Statement

Represented by:
Galerie Caroline O’Breen