Twee vrouwen aan een tafel op een terras 1890 - 1946

This drawing of two women on a terrace was made by Cornelis Vreedenburgh, and what strikes me is how simple and immediate it feels. The way the marks swarm together, especially around the figures, makes me think about how the artist built up the image from a jumble of lines. It’s like watching the drawing emerge from a cloud of graphite. You can feel the artist searching, trying to capture a fleeting moment. I imagine Vreedenburgh, sitting on that terrace, quickly sketching these figures as they chatted. There's a kind of provisional, open-ended quality to the image. It reminds me of other sketchers like Manet or Degas. The way they used drawing to record their impressions of modern life. It is like they are all in conversation. Each of them picking up on what the other has to say. It's a constant back and forth between artists across time. Drawing allows for so much ambiguity. There are infinite ways to interpret what you're seeing, and that's kind of the point.