Carel de Nerée tot Babberich - Nude with Curly Hair

Carel de Nerée tot Babberich (1880–1909)

Nude with Curly Hair

ca. 1906

Pencil on paper

43 × 28 cm

Literature:

Illustrated in Sander Bink, Verfijnde Lijnen: Carel de Nerée tot Babberich, 1880–1909, Wbooks (2025), cat. no. 321.

Exhibition:

Carel de Nerée. Anders dan de anderen, Dordrechts Museum, 2025.

Additional information:

In 1923, Albert Plasschaert wrote of a nude by Carel de Nerée that it was “unrivalled in the Netherlands for its dreamy sensuality.” A few years later, Harry Prenen recalled seeing a pencil drawing of a female nude at the art dealer J.H. de Bois, which he considered “more beautiful than a Bonnard.” Absolute certainty is impossible, but this monumental sheet is a very plausible candidate for both descriptions.

The drawing reveals a side of De Nerée that can easily be overshadowed by his reputation as a Symbolist and decadent stylist. Here, it is above all the draughtsman who comes to the fore. Through soft modelling, subtle passages of shadow and an exceptional understanding of anatomy, he renders the body with a directness that is less apparent in his more stylised work.

The long, flowing hair, reaching almost to the knees, gives the figure something strange and almost mythical. At the same time, the body remains vulnerable and deeply human. It is precisely this combination of physicality and stillness that gives the drawing its sensuality.

The sheet belongs to a small group of late nude studies in which De Nerée shows a striking freedom from his familiar Symbolist visual language. They offer an intriguing glimpse of a direction his work might have taken had his life not been cut short at the age of twenty-nine.