Studie, mogelijk van een boot c. 1909

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing, Studie, mogelijk van een boot, using graphite on paper. The thing about a sketch like this is that it captures an artist thinking. Look at these lines— tentative, searching, mapping a world that’s about to come into being. I can imagine Breitner hunched over a pad, maybe on location, trying to get a handle on a fleeting impression. It’s like a visual diary entry, right? A moment in time recorded not in words, but in marks. There’s this beautiful awkwardness to it, a kind of vulnerability. It's not about perfection; it’s about the process of trying to figure something out. And in that process, there’s a real sense of discovery, not just for the artist, but for us too. Painters are always in conversation with each other, across time, inspiring each other’s creativity.