Gezicht op gebouwen, mogelijk aan het water c. 1909

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing of buildings, maybe near water, with graphite on paper. On the right, there’s this energetic scribble of dark marks, like the side of a building or a cliff face. I can imagine Breitner outside, maybe it was cold, making quick, urgent gestures to capture the scene before the light changed. Look at those vertical lines holding up a heavier mass of shading. It feels like a solid, heavy form described in a few marks. Then, over on the left side, there’s something fainter, like a ghost of another structure. It reminds me of when I begin a painting and then have second thoughts, letting the original idea fade as something new emerges. It shows how drawing and painting is about layering and finding the image through a process of looking and feeling. The way the forms hover between clarity and suggestion feels really modern, like he's not just showing us a place, but also how we see.