Studie, mogelijk van een dier c. 1883 - 1885

This is George Hendrik Breitner's sketch, 'Studie, mogelijk van een dier' housed here at the Rijksmuseum. Rendered with graphite on paper, the artwork presents a series of rapidly sketched lines and handwritten notes. The composition of the drawing, filled with fragmented images and text, creates a sense of disorientation. The layering and intersection of lines suggest a mind in motion, capturing fleeting observations and thoughts, that seem to resist fixed meaning. Breitner’s energetic marks across the surface of the paper challenge traditional ideas of representation, favouring instead the immediacy of perception and the chaotic nature of experience. The interplay between the visible and illegible elements invites us to consider the relationships between seeing, knowing, and interpreting. The sketch functions as a dynamic field of potential, where meaning is never fully resolved, and is always in formation.