Gebouwen aan het water 1907 - 1909

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing, Buildings by the Water, with pencil on paper. Look at the pressure of the pencil and how it makes the buildings emerge and recede. I imagine him out there, balancing his pad on his knee, trying to capture the scene, probably feeling the wind. See how the lines are kind of tentative, like he's feeling his way through the image? It’s like the memory of a place, not quite there, but full of atmosphere. There’s this great push and pull between what’s there and what’s suggested. It reminds me of some of Philip Guston’s late works, that same searching quality, that desire to nail something down but also let it breathe. You can see the ghost of forms taking shape in the negative space, and then fading away again. It's about the process of seeing and recording. And how the artist chooses to emphasize some lines and let others disappear.