Vrouw met een hoed 1890 - 1946

Cornelis Vreedenburgh made this drawing of a woman with a hat, likely in his sketchbook, using graphite or charcoal. It’s a quick notation, a fleeting impression, capturing a sense of form and gesture. The lines are tentative, searching, like the artist is feeling out the subject, trying to capture the essence of the woman's pose and the shape of her hat. You can see the artist’s hand moving across the page, making decisions, correcting, and refining the image. I wonder what he was thinking as he made it? Was he trying to capture a likeness, or was he more interested in the abstract qualities of line and form? The sketch reminds me of other artists who used drawing as a way to explore and understand the world around them, like Degas with his sketches of dancers, or Picasso with his studies for Guernica. These artists were all engaged in a conversation with each other, pushing the boundaries of what drawing could be.