Afbraak van oude gebouwen te Amsterdam 1912

George Hendrik Breitner made this drawing of the demolition of old buildings in Amsterdam with pencil on paper. It looks like he was working quickly, trying to capture the moment. There's something really interesting about the weight of the lines he's using. Look how he captures the crumbling buildings with these dark, almost violent strokes, then contrasts them with the more delicate lines defining the buildings further back. It's almost as if the drawing itself is undergoing a kind of demolition, mirroring the scene it depicts. The physical process of drawing, the application of pressure to the pencil, becomes a metaphor for destruction and change. It's really raw, you know? Think of someone like Philip Guston, who also used simple lines to capture a complex emotional landscape, though in a very different way. Both artists remind us that art isn't just about what we see, but how we feel and how we make sense of the world around us.