Drie compositiestudies en notities 1886 - 1923

This sheet of paper from Breitner holds a bunch of graphite sketches and notes, a peek into the artist's mind. I love seeing how an artist plans, how they work through ideas. There's a kind of energy in these quick lines, capturing landscapes and figures in just a few strokes. Look at the top sketch, how he suggests the weight and form of the horse and the buildings with so little detail. It's all about the process, isn't it? The thinking and seeing. The grid of the paper adds another layer, a structure against which these fleeting images play. It reminds me a bit of Agnes Martin, that tension between the loose, organic mark and the underlying grid. It's like seeing the scaffolding beneath the building, the bones of the idea. And that little figure at the bottom? Almost an afterthought, but full of life. It's all so intimate, so immediate.