Schepen c. 1910 - 1915

Willem Witsen made this pencil sketch, Schepen, at an undetermined time, and it’s currently housed at the Rijksmuseum. It looks like it was done on the fly, as a quick, almost subconscious process. The marks are so light, the paper almost untouched, yet a whole scene emerges. Look at the way the boats are rendered. Witsen uses the bare minimum of lines, kind of scribbled, to suggest form, light, and movement all at once. You can almost feel the water gently rocking the boats, can't you? There is a kind of confidence in how little information is given. It’s like Witsen is saying, "Here, a boat, a horizon, now you fill in the rest." This reminds me of Cy Twombly’s sketches. It’s about the suggestion, the evocation, rather than the depiction. These are artists that embrace ambiguity and multiple interpretations, they’re never fixed on one specific meaning.