Nieuwe Kerk te Amsterdam, gezien vanaf de Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal c. 1903

This sketch of the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam is by George Hendrik Breitner, and what I like about it is the way it looks like it’s been captured on the fly, like a memory. The whole thing is rendered in quick, searching marks, and there’s a real sense of the artist trying to pin down the essence of the scene with a minimum of fuss. You get a feel for the texture of the paper, that slightly rough surface, just from the way the pencil skips across it. Look at how the lines describing the architecture aren’t perfectly straight, but waver and wobble, like they’re breathing. It reminds you that seeing isn’t just about recording what’s there, but about feeling your way through the world. Breitner reminds me of Manet, someone with a hunger for modern life. What both artists share is a willingness to leave things unresolved, to suggest rather than state, and to trust that the viewer will meet them halfway.