Gezicht op de Nieuwendijk te Amsterdam c. 1902

George Hendrik Breitner made this graphite sketch of the Nieuwendijk in Amsterdam, but we don’t know exactly when. It's got that raw, immediate energy you get from sketching on location. I can almost feel the artist standing there, charcoal in hand, quickly blocking in the scene. The lines are scratchy and searching, like he's trying to capture the essence of the place before it disappears. You can see where he's gone over lines, corrected them, building up a layered surface of marks, a bit like how I build up layers of paint. What was he thinking as he sketched? Was he interested in the architecture, or the bustle of the street? You can see the push and pull between representation and abstraction—between the thing itself, and the idea of the thing. Breitner's sketch reminds me that art isn't about perfection. It's about seeing, feeling, and trying to capture something real. It is evidence of human presence, of a vital encounter.