Perspectiefstudie met een gebouw en bomen 1914 - 1923

George Hendrik Breitner made this perspective study with a building and trees, and it's all about the bare bones of seeing, isn’t it? I like to think of the artist standing there, squinting, trying to capture not just what's in front of him, but how it all lines up, recedes, and takes shape on the page. The straight lines create a sense of structure, yet it feels so tentative, like a first thought. You can almost feel him figuring it out as he goes, adjusting, erasing, and redrawing the lines. It reminds me that every great painting starts with these little, uncertain gestures. Every artist stands on the shoulders of others, borrowing, and riffing off ideas across time. And it’s in that ambiguity, that space between certainty and uncertainty, that the magic happens.