Silhouet van een stad en een vrachtwagen 1890 - 1946

Cornelis Vreedenburgh made this sketch of a city silhouette and a truck with pencil on paper, but we don't know exactly when. It's like a memory, a loose collection of lines that suggest more than they show. See how the truck is rendered with these chunky, almost clumsy shapes, and then how those jagged lines mimic the outline of the city? It feels like Vreedenburgh is thinking about how these industrial forms relate to each other, maybe even how they kind of *become* each other. There's a real sense of weight and volume in the truck, achieved with the simplest of means, like the shadow the artist has added to the side of the vehicle. It’s like he's trying to understand the essence of these objects, not just their appearance. The whole thing reminds me a bit of some of Philip Guston’s later, more cartoonish works. It's this idea that art isn't about getting things "right," it's about the thinking, seeing, and feeling of making.