Stadsgezicht c. 1897 - 1899

Editor: Here we have "Stadsgezicht," a cityscape made with pencil, likely around 1897-1899, by Willem Witsen, held at the Rijksmuseum. It’s a delicate sketch – almost ghostly. I’m curious about its seemingly unfinished quality. What captures your attention in this seemingly simple work? Curator: It's the whisper of a city, isn’t it? Witsen’s lines remind me of a half-remembered dream, or a fleeting thought. The buildings and the water become almost secondary to the feeling he evokes, this quiet melancholy of a cityscape under graphite skies. It is just a pen sketch, perhaps made on location directly from a sketchbook. Does it conjure any familiar memories or places for you? Editor: I suppose it does have this nostalgic vibe. Now that you mention it, it does resemble old Amsterdam. I wonder why Witsen chose this fragmented, almost ethereal approach. Curator: Perhaps it was the only way to capture something so inherently ephemeral as a feeling, a memory… think of Proust searching for lost time. Witsen perhaps wasn’t aiming for topographical accuracy but emotional resonance. A quick attempt at retaining a moment, before it slips from conscious recall. See how some of the lines are more strongly drawn? Does that suggest anything to you? Editor: Maybe the key elements of what he saw were important. Or perhaps it reflects the artist’s subjective, fleeting impressions? The thin linework and selective details give it that "unfinished" but evocative character. It's like catching a fleeting glimpse. Curator: Precisely! And isn't that what Impressionism, at its heart, is about? Thank you, because I am now keen to search my old sketchbooks! Editor: Agreed, this changed how I view sketches. I learned something!