Gezicht op de Sloterdijkbrug te Amsterdam c. 1906 - 1923

This sketch of the Sloterdijk bridge in Amsterdam, by George Hendrik Breitner, feels like a fleeting thought captured in pencil. It's like Breitner was walking by, quickly pulled out his sketchbook, and dashed off this impression. Look at the lines – they're not precious or overworked. There’s something immediate and honest about the mark-making. It’s as if the artist is saying, "Here, this is what I saw, this is how it felt to be there." The texture of the paper is really present. The tooth of the page holds the graphite, creating subtle variations in tone. And that one dark, almost scribbled line defining the left side of the bridge? It's like a burst of energy, a quick jab of emphasis. It anchors the whole composition. You can feel the artist making decisions in real time, editing and refining with each stroke. The sparseness of the drawing reminds me of some of Agnes Martin's less grid-like sketches. Both artists share a love of simplicity, of distilling a subject down to its most essential form. It speaks to the idea that art is a process, a way of seeing and thinking.