Gezicht op het Damrak te Amsterdam met boten 1912 - 1919

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing of the Damrak in Amsterdam with boats, with pencil on paper. The Damrak is evoked with a bunch of lines doing their thing. The paper is visible, it's doing it's thing too. Nothing hides. I love how Breitner’s lines start and stop—some are dark and confident, others fragile, barely there. The whole composition is a balancing act. The shapes suggest boats, masts, and buildings, but it’s like they’re all about to dissolve back into nothing. This piece feels like a quick thought, barely captured, a snapshot on paper. It reminds me of some Cy Twombly sketches, or even some of Guston’s looser drawings—just pure process, nothing labored, all instinct. It’s a conversation about seeing, about how much you need to say to say something.