Brief aan Pieter Haverkorn van Rijsewijk Possibly 1900 - 1911

This letter was written in Amsterdam on 11 March 1900 by George Hendrik Breitner, in pen and ink. The dark looping strokes of ink on the pale paper make me think about the act of writing as a kind of dance. The pressure of the pen, the speed of the hand, it’s all there in the line. I imagine Breitner hunched over a desk, maybe pausing to think, then scratching away at the page in this old-fashioned hand. I feel a connection to him, even though I can't read Dutch. You see that concentration and care in those words. The letter becomes a physical thing, an object. I often think about the conversation artists are having with each other, across time. I’m sure Breitner had his own heroes, the artists he admired and studied. We all learn from each other, building on what came before. That’s what art is all about, this ongoing exchange of ideas, inspiring each other to create.