Paardenhoofden c. 1902 - 1914

George Hendrik Breitner made these two horse heads with pencil on paper, and it’s as if they've come into being through trial, error, and intuition. I can imagine Breitner in his studio, charcoal in hand, thinking about Degas, maybe, or the way the light catches the muscles in a horse’s neck. There’s a real feeling of sympathy for the artist in this sketch, a sense of the material aspects of art-making: the texture of the paper, the smudging of the charcoal, the way the artist’s hand moved across the surface. Look at the marks that define the horse's eyes—short, sharp, full of intent. They communicate the feeling of the artist's focused gaze. Maybe these horses relate to something larger in Breitner’s practice, his interest in movement, the dynamism of life. I feel like artists are always in conversation with each other, across time, inspiring each other's creativity. This sketch is a reminder that painting is a form of embodied expression, embracing ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations, and that's beautiful.