Figuur- en architectuurstudies c. 1886 - 1923

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing with pencil on paper sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. It's so faint, these ghostlike architectural and figure studies. Like a half-remembered dream or a fleeting impression jotted down. The paper has aged, and the pencil marks are delicate, almost disappearing into the surface. It’s all about suggestion rather than definite form. I love how Breitner captures movement and atmosphere with such minimal means. The lines are tentative, searching, as if he's feeling his way through the scene. It reminds me of Cy Twombly’s scribbled drawings, but with a Dutch sensibility. Look at the way he renders the figures. Just a few lines to indicate their presence, their weight, their posture. You can sense the hustle and bustle of the city, the flow of people going about their daily lives. It's like a visual shorthand, a way of capturing the essence of a moment without getting bogged down in details. It makes me want to grab a pencil and try to capture the world around me.