Twee vrouwen aan een tafel op een terras 1890 - 1946

Cornelis Vreedenburgh made this drawing of two women at a table on a terrace, on paper with pencil. It is a simple sketch. You can feel the lightness of the hand and the sense of improvisation. The thing about a sketch is how it shows the immediacy of the artist's thinking. Look at the way the shadows are just suggested with quick, scribbled lines. The hatching on the women's dresses, and their faces, is so alive with energy. There is no attempt to conceal or obscure the process. The artist wants you to see the decisions being made. Vreedenburgh had a very particular way of making marks. You can see it in other sketches from the time, how he’s using these shorthand marks to build up an image. It reminds me a little of Vuillard, someone else who was obsessed with the everyday. Both show us that art is a conversation, ideas echoing and transforming across time. Ultimately, this sketch is a space of imagination.