Gezicht op gebouwen in Amsterdam c. 1903

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing of buildings in Amsterdam on paper, but when is anyone's guess! The rapidly hatched lines are like a spider's web, mapping out a street scene with a kind of urgent energy. Look closely, and you can almost feel Breitner's hand moving across the page, as he tries to capture the essence of these buildings. It’s so ephemeral, so raw, so honest. He’s not trying to pretty things up or hide the process, and I find that really refreshing. Notice the way the lines sometimes overlap and intersect, creating these little moments of chaos and tension. To me, that’s where the real juice is. There's something so modern about this drawing, it reminds me of Cy Twombly's scribbled lines or even some of the more gestural abstract expressionists. But Breitner was doing his own thing, in his own time, capturing a fleeting glimpse of Amsterdam with such clarity and verve. Art isn’t just about answers, it’s about questions, about possibilities, about embracing the unknown.