Studie, mogelijk van een dier aan de waterkant 1893

George Hendrik Breitner sketched this possible waterside animal study with pencil, revealing more than just an image. Observe the skeletal structure, the bare bones rendered with a directness that echoes primitive art. It reminds me of Paleolithic cave paintings – raw, immediate impressions of the animal world. Here, too, we see lines that seek to capture the essence, the very soul of the creature. Consider how the grid-like patterns in the water and the lines of the animal link to the symbolism of water in earlier art, and even beyond, to the symbolic use of skeletal remains in ‘memento mori’ works that serve as reminders of mortality. The visual tension between the fleeting, imprecise contours of the beast, and the stability of the watery plane beneath evokes a psychoanalytic understanding: a primal connection with nature, and the ever-present awareness of time's passage.