Auto voor een stationsgebouw 1890 - 1946

Here, in the Rijksmuseum, is ‘Auto voor een stationsgebouw’ a pencil sketch by Cornelis Vreedenburgh. The quick, loose marks here suggest Vreedenburgh was interested in the act of seeing as much as the thing seen. The pencil lines, almost like whispers on paper, capture the scene without pinning it down. I love the texture, the way the pencil drags and catches, creating a sense of depth with so few lines. Look at the car; it’s not just a car, it's a collection of suggestive scribbles that somehow add up to “car-ness.” The surrounding architecture is similarly sketched, almost an afterthought, which makes the car stand out as the main subject of the sketch. Vreedenburgh reminds me a little of Giorgio Morandi, who spent his whole life drawing and redrawing a few bottles; in both artists there's a sense of the work being about looking, and re-looking. Art is a conversation, constantly revising and questioning, and I find that really beautiful.