Vogel, mogelijk op een tak c. 1886 - 1923

This little drawing of a bird, possibly on a branch, was made by George Hendrik Breitner, and now lives at the Rijksmuseum. Look at the way Breitner made the bird’s head; it’s all bristly and sticking up, like my hair when I wake up in the morning. I can imagine Breitner quickly capturing the scene, trying to get the essence of the bird before it flew away. It's all about marks and how they make a feeling of a bird. The lines are so light and airy, the bird could take off any second! It reminds me of other artists, like Manet, who used a similar kind of shorthand to capture fleeting moments. I always think about how artists are in a constant conversation, inspiring each other, and maybe some day, someone will look at my paintings and see how they connect to Breitner’s bird. I hope they see that painting is this embodied thing, full of messy feelings and blurry intentions. It embraces the 'i-don't-know' and the 'maybe-this' and invites us to see things in our own, strange ways.