Gezicht op het Damrak te Amsterdam met de huizen aan de Warmoesstraat c. 1900 - 1901

George Hendrik Breitner made this sketch of the Damrak in Amsterdam with graphite on paper. The artist is using the simplest of means: a soft pencil, a bound book. The thinness of the line gives the scene a certain casualness, as if he just happened to be passing by the Damrak and quickly captured the scene before him. But the skill in this work resides in the opposite: the trained confidence with which Breitner suggests depth and volume, with the bare minimum of descriptive marks. The buildings loom, built up of countless marks, set against the open expanse of the water. The horizon line is low, giving a sense of the scale of the city’s architecture. And at the lower left, a lone figure walks along the canal. This drawing has the intimacy of a personal record, but it also gives us a valuable glimpse into urban life at the turn of the last century. It's a powerful reminder that even the simplest materials can be used to create works of great beauty and significance.