Afbraak van de gebouwen aan het Beurspleintje te Amsterdam 1912

George Hendrik Breitner made this sketch of buildings being torn down at Beurspleintje in Amsterdam, using graphite on paper. It’s a flurry of marks, isn’t it? A real frenzy of looking and doing! I can almost feel the artist’s hand moving quickly, trying to capture the scene before it vanishes – like life itself, constantly changing, never still. The buildings are reduced to basic shapes, almost collapsing in on themselves, and the graphite gives everything a sense of impermanence, as if any minute the buildings might disappear altogether. I think that Breitner’s probably thinking about other artists, like Turner, who captured the fleeting quality of light and atmosphere. That frenetic mark-making, feels pretty emotional. A building coming down, it’s really about something going away forever. He’s thinking of all the people who passed through those buildings, all the stories those walls could tell. A place is more than just bricks and mortar, you know? It’s about memories, experiences, life itself.