Studies 1890 - 1946

This freehand sketch, Studies, comes to us from the hand of Cornelis Vreedenburgh. In the making, I can imagine Vreedenburgh trying out forms, letting them shift and slide across the surface. Like he’s thinking aloud, working through some ideas—a composition, a figure—with these loose lines and geometric forms. There’s a stack of squares over to the left, sitting like a wonky tower. It's like he’s saying, 'What if this sat on top of that? And what if I put a little handle on it?' Then, to the right, this vertical line meets a curved shape. The artist is letting intuition lead, feeling their way through the possibilities. The simplicity of the sketch puts me in mind of artists like Agnes Martin or Sol Lewitt. A sense of quiet contemplation, with the artist searching for their own particular poetry of form. This piece is a reminder that art is an ongoing process, an open-ended conversation where artists across time inspire one another.