Nieuwe Teertuinen te Amsterdam, gezien vanaf de Sloterdijkbrug 1912 - 1919

George Hendrik Breitner made this sketch of Nieuwe Teertuinen in Amsterdam from the Sloterdijkbrug. I love the roughness of it, like the artist was in a hurry to capture the scene, maybe the light was changing fast. You can almost feel the movement in those quick, scribbled lines. It’s like he's saying, "Here’s what I saw, in all its messy glory." I wonder what he was thinking as he stood there, pencil in hand. Did he feel a connection to the place, to the people who lived and worked there? Was he trying to find a sense of peace and belonging? Or was he just trying to capture the fleeting beauty of a moment, like so many of us artists do? His work reminds me of other artists who also looked to capture everyday life, each building on what came before. What a conversation across time! It’s this beautiful reminder that art is never really finished, it’s always evolving.