Ye Old Dutch Church, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 1951

John Marin sketched this church in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, with what looks like graphite on paper. The marks are so immediate, like a fleeting thought captured in lines. Look at how Marin approaches the facade of the church. It’s not about precise rendering; it’s about feeling the form. The lines are scratchy, restless – some barely there, others darker, more assertive. The surface of the paper peeks through, becoming part of the image. There’s this incredible lightness, a sense of air and space. The way he renders the trees, just a few strokes, yet they evoke so much. It reminds me of Cy Twombly's drawings, where the gesture is everything, and the meaning is found in the act of mark-making itself. Marin's sketch invites us to see not just the church, but the energy of the moment, the artist's hand moving across the page. Art's not about answers; it's about the questions we ask along the way.