Wolken 1910

This is George Hendrik Breitner’s study of clouds, made with a pencil on paper. Look at those light lines. I imagine Breitner outside with his sketchbook, squinting at the sky, trying to capture those ephemeral forms. He’s got these looping, wandering lines, like he's feeling his way through the air, chasing the clouds as they morph. You can see the pressure of the pencil shifting, darker here, fainter there, as he works to map out the edges. It reminds me of Constable, who was obsessed with clouds, but Breitner feels looser, quicker, like he’s trying to catch a feeling more than a likeness. There's an intimacy to it, like you're seeing the world through his eyes, sharing a moment of quiet observation. I really get a sense of what it must have been like to be him, looking up at the sky on that particular day, just trying to get it down on paper. Painters, you know, we're all just looking at each other's work, borrowing, stealing, and riffing off what came before.