Fietsers en auto's op een straat 1890 - 1946

This sketch of cyclists and cars on a street by Cornelis Vreedenburgh is rendered entirely in pencil. It is clear that the artist is thinking through the act of looking. The surface is alive with the energy of mark-making. You can see the ghost of previous lines, a kind of pentimento, where the artist has adjusted and refined his vision. There's a beautiful tension between the solid, almost architectural rendering of the buildings on the left and the more gestural rendering of the foliage and cyclists on the right. Notice the tree at the top left corner, a frenzy of scribbled marks suggesting leaves and branches. It’s almost as if Vreedenburgh is channeling the energy of the city through his pencil, letting the urban landscape emerge from a chaotic yet controlled process. This piece reminds me of some of Bonnard’s looser sketches, where he's feeling his way through a scene. It’s a reminder that art isn’t about capturing a perfect image, but embracing the beauty of ambiguity.