Paarden voor een rijtuig of tram 1893

George Hendrik Breitner captured these Horses before a Carriage or Tram in a sketch, a snapshot of motion rendered with charcoal. The most striking symbol here is the cross shape formed by the horses’ harnesses and the carriage structure. Historically, the cross represents a meeting point—spirit and matter, heaven and earth. Yet, here, in the context of urban transportation, it speaks of convergence and intersection, not of the divine, but the mundane, where lives and routes briefly intertwine. Consider how the cross appears in ancient Egyptian art as the ankh, symbolizing life, or in medieval heraldry as a marker of identity and allegiance. Each iteration, the cross mutates, charged with new purpose yet retaining its primal force. This act of seeing the cross in this modern, gritty scene elicits a deep resonance, a subconscious acknowledgement of how even the most mundane can be elevated to the level of cultural and religious symbol. It reminds us that symbols, like the paths of these horses, are always in motion.