Gezicht op een straat of plein in Amsterdam met figuren 1917

George Hendrik Breitner made these sketches of an Amsterdam street scene with pencil. I can imagine him sitting somewhere with his sketchbook open, trying to capture the busy street with just a few strokes. These marks are so economic; they suggest so much with so little. Breitner wasn't trying to give us all the details, but more like the feeling of being there, a sense of the place. I bet it was windy, or perhaps he was cold. Maybe he was thinking about how the light falls on the buildings at different times of the day, and how that changes everything. It makes me think about the way we all see the world differently, and how artists try to share their view with us. It's like a secret language that we're all invited to learn, and the more we look, the more we understand. Artists are always talking to each other across time, borrowing and inventing, adding to this amazing conversation.