Twee zeilschepen op het water c. 1901 - 1927

Johan Antonie de Jonge made this drawing of two sailboats on the water, and what strikes me is how little information our brain needs to conjure a whole scene! The sketch feels immediate, like the artist quickly grabbed the essence of the boats and water. It’s all about suggestion rather than description; each mark feels like a decision, a risk even. I love the hatched lines used to describe the form of the boat on the right, they remind me of the rough cross-hatching you find in expressionist woodcuts; so immediate, raw and full of energy. This isn’t about capturing a photographic likeness. It's more like a shorthand, a visual note capturing a fleeting moment. Artists like de Jonge show us that art doesn’t always need to be polished or perfect. Sometimes, the beauty lies in the raw, unfiltered expression of a moment. Think about the later work of someone like Cy Twombly, who used scribbled marks to such great effect, its a kind of conversation across time.