Studie, mogelijk van een doorgang 1886 - 1923

George Hendrik Breitner made this study, possibly of a passageway, with charcoal, and I just love the directness of it. You can almost feel the urgency in Breitner’s hand as he’s sketching. I imagine him standing there, maybe a little cold, quickly trying to capture the essence of the space before the light changes or people move. It’s like he’s saying, “Okay, brain, work with me here, let’s get this down!” The charcoal is so immediate, right? Thick lines, thin lines, smudges—each mark tells a story about the pressure and speed of his hand. Look at the way he suggests depth with those quick, vertical strokes, so economical. It’s like a conversation between his eye, his hand, and the world, all happening at once. And it’s cool to think about how this sketch might have been a starting point, feeding into his larger paintings, each informing the other.