Gezicht op de Kalverstraat met de toren van de Nieuwezijds Kapel te Amsterdam 1907

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing of the Kalverstraat in Amsterdam with charcoal. It's a flurry of lines, a dance of dark marks on paper. You can almost feel the speed of his hand, trying to capture the essence of the street. The texture is all in the strokes, some thick and bold, others light and fleeting. The charcoal gives a velvety darkness, but it’s also powdery, like it could smudge with a touch. Look at how he renders the tower. It's not about perfect representation but a feeling of height, of reaching towards the sky. The sketchiness invites us to fill in the gaps. Breitner was known for his impressionistic views of Amsterdam, and this drawing is like a shorthand version of his paintings. It reminds me a bit of some of Philip Guston's later drawings, that same raw, immediate quality. Art is never really finished. It's just a moment captured, a conversation started.