Gezicht in Amsterdam met de Nieuwe Kerk c. 1903

George Hendrik Breitner made this sketch of Amsterdam’s Nieuwe Kerk with graphite on paper, and looking at it, I feel like I’m seeing the world through his eyes, a world in motion, caught on the fly. The way he's quickly scribbled the lines, you can almost feel the urgency, like he had to capture the scene before it disappeared. I imagine him standing there, maybe a little cold, definitely inspired by the hustle and bustle of the city. His marks are loose, but somehow they nail the essence of the architecture. It reminds me that painting, like sketching, is a way of thinking, a way of making sense of the world through gesture and form. Every artist is in conversation with those who came before, riffing on ideas, pushing boundaries, trying to capture something real and true. And in the end, it's not about perfection, but about the energy and the feeling that comes through.