Gezicht op een bloemenstal bij de Appelmarkt aan het Singel c. 1886s

This is a charcoal sketch by George Hendrik Breitner, depicting a flower stall at the Appelmarkt on the Singel. Note the dominant visual element: the flower stall itself, a motif laden with symbolic weight. Throughout history, flowers have represented fleeting beauty and the transience of life. Think of the vanitas paintings of the Dutch Golden Age, where wilting blossoms served as memento mori. But here, amidst the urban bustle, the flower stall suggests something more: a defiant assertion of nature's vitality within the grimy city. The rapid, almost frantic strokes of Breitner’s charcoal echo the ephemeral nature of the blooms themselves, hinting at the psychological and emotional resonance between the artist and his subject. The image becomes not just a scene, but a felt experience of life's fleeting, cyclical beauty.