Rechthoeken 1890 - 1946

This drawing, titled "Rechthoeken," no date given, by Cornelis Vreedenburgh, is currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It's hard not to wonder what it would have been like to be Vreedenburgh, sketching away, lost in thought. Just looking at the marks, I can see how the shapes shift and emerge through trial, error, and intuition. There's a real conversation happening on the page, between the artist and the work. The paper is heavily inscribed, covered in numbers, names and places—it is palimpsestic. This piece feels like a site of inquiry, both for Vreedenburgh and for us as viewers. I can see echoes of other sketchers and note-takers here, all those artists who use the act of drawing as a way of thinking. Artists are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. The ambiguity embraces uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.