Landschap c. 1914s

This is George Hendrik Breitner's 'Landschap', a landscape made with pencil on paper, and it’s all about the energy of mark-making. Look closely, and you can see how the landscape emerges through a flurry of lines, each stroke alive with its own rhythm. There's something immediate and raw about the marks, like Breitner is trying to capture the feeling of the place, not just the appearance. The repeated hatching in the lower centre creates a solid mass, acting as an anchor to the soaring verticals and dancing diagonals above. The light pencil lines almost vibrate against the paper, they give everything a kind of ephemeral quality. You know, looking at this, I am reminded of some of Cy Twombly’s sketches – that same sense of capturing a fleeting moment through a kind of personal shorthand. Both of them show us how art is really about the process, not just the final product. And how it invites us to look, to feel, and to connect.