Amsterdamse Poort te Haarlem 1907 - 1909

Willem Cornelis Rip made this sketch of Amsterdamse Poort te Haarlem with graphite on paper. It’s a landscape split across two pages, a kind of double vision, capturing a fleeting moment. The sketch is all about mark-making and you can see how Rip is thinking through the process. It feels less about capturing detail than finding a rhythm. Look at the different weights of line, the way he captures light and shadow with such simple means. Notice the almost scribbled lines indicating the water, the softer shading of the gate. The marks have a real energy, they're not just describing a scene, they're performing it. The quick, loose style feels almost like a conversation with artists like Van Gogh, who also found so much in the everyday. In the end, art is not just a record, it's an ongoing dialogue, an exchange of ideas across time.