Groep vrouwen 1909

George Hendrik Breitner made this tiny drawing of a group of women with graphite on paper, and it's now here in the Rijksmuseum. What strikes me is the sheer speed of it all. Breitner wasn't trying to capture likeness, but movement and atmosphere. It’s like he was sketching a memory, a feeling. Look at the way he uses line – thin, quick strokes that barely define the figures. It's all about the essentials, like a shorthand for seeing. The texture of the paper peeks through, adding to the sense of immediacy. There’s a cluster of lines near the bottom that, to me, suggests a flurry of activity, a gathering of energy. It’s like he's trying to trap the ephemeral nature of a crowd. Breitner was a contemporary of Degas, and you can see that shared interest in modern life. He was clearly a prolific artist and there’s a freedom in this sketch, a willingness to embrace ambiguity, that feels very contemporary. It reminds us that art isn't about perfect representation, but about opening a space for imagination.